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BARE-FACED MESSIAH -- THE TRUE STORY OF L. RON HUBBARD

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Bare-Faced Messiah, the biography of L. Ron Hubbard, makes for extraordinary reading.  From his early days as a penniless author of "pulp" science fiction stories to his mysterious end, Hubbard was often in the news, usually at odds with society, frequently in trouble with the law.  Born in 1911, the son of a struggling Nebraska businessman, he led a wandering, wildly romantic youth in which his dreams and his realities often became confused.

While writing for the pulps in the 1930s he claimed to have made a discovery of such philosophical and psychological importance that it would change the world.  From that discovery evolved the "science" of Dianetics which prospered briefly and then foundered in a sea of debt and writs.  In 1952 Hubbard founded a far more ambitious program, Scientology, a new religion which claimed to give its adepts the ability to overcome all diseases of the mind and body.  The relationship of Hubbard to Scientology soon became that of Christ to the church, or some would sya, of Hitler to Nazi Germany.  The Church of Scientology was constantly in trouble with the authorities, and for years Hubbard and his entourage roamed the world pursued by the FBI, the CIA and outraged governments.  He tried and failed to take control of at least one continent and several countries.

For nearly ten years he sailed the oceans as the commodore of his own private navy, served by nymphet messengers in hot pants who dressed and undressed him and were trained like robots to relay orders in his tone of voice.

Back in the United States in the mid-1970s, Hubbard directed an operation aimed at infiltrating government offices to launder their bulging files on the Church of Scientology.

His last years were as peripatetic and unsettled as his youth, and far more paranoid.  In 1980, fearing arrest, he disappeared and was never seen again.  He died in January 1986 under circumstances as mysterious as his enigmatic life itself.

Russell Miller was born in London and left school at sixteen.  By the time he was 21 he was a reporter, and his journalism, notably for the Sunday Times, is syndicated throughout the world.  He is the author of Bunny, a widely acclaimed biography of Hugh Hefner, and most recently the best-selling The House of Getty.  Married, with four children, he lives in the English countryside.

PRAISE FROM THE EUROPEAN REVIEWS:

"Fascinatingly recounted ..." -- Tom Hutchinson in the Times (London)

"Russell Miller has made a specialty of analysing self-made American monsters." -- The Observer

"A diligent investigation of exactly what [Hubbard] did get up to .... Miller writes very accessibly and his research has clearly been painstaking." -- The New Statesman

"[Hubbard's] story is fascinating, though also ultimately frightening in what it tells us about the desperate loneliness of people and how gullible they can be in their quest for meaning ... Miller ... tells it very well indeed." -- Irish Press

"Messiah ranks with Bullock and A J P Taylor in terms of research, unfolding with pace and drama as the author debunks and simplifies to great effect.  Will Miller suffer the reprisals that befell Stephen Knight and the threats to David Yallop when they revealed the truths behind not dissimilar organisations?  Only time will tell." -- City Life

"Admirably researched ... the carefully-documented account is comprehensively damning; an indictment of Hubbard as both a more sinister and a more ludicrous figure than his critics realised." -- Irish Independent

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