L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?
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 Book Cover |
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| Author | Bent Corydon Ronald DeWolf |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | biography |
| Genre(s) | non-fiction |
| Publisher | Lyle Stuart |
| Released | 1987 [Also, 1992, 1995/1996] |
| Pages | 1987, 402 pages; [1992, 460 pages; 1995/1996, 464 pages] |
| ISBN | ISBN 0818404442 |
This article forms part of a series on Scientology |
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Concepts
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L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? Lyle Stuart Inc. (First published 1987) is a posthumous biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard by author Bent Corydon, and Hubbard's son, Ronald DeWolf. Though originally published by Lyle Stuart Inc., the book was re-issued in a paperback edition on July 25, 1992 and a hardcover edition in October 1995, both by publisher Barricade Books. The 1995 edition also featured author Brian Ambry as principal researcher. Full Text versions of the work are also available online as part of an "electronic lending library and preservational electronic archive[1]."
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[edit] Legal dispute
The Church of Scientology engaged the publisher, Lyle Stuart Inc., in a legal dispute, in order to prevent the publication of the biography. They claimed copyright infringement, which was later dismissed:
These biographies and a third one, A Piece of Blue Sky by former Scientologist Jon Atack, were all targets of an aggressive Scientology legal campaign to prevent their being published and distributed. The courts denied Scientology's attempts to stop distribution of L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman and Atack's A Piece of Blue Sky. Scientology's suits were over copyright issues, not the authors' accuracy. In fact, author Jon Atack has probably the most extensive archives of primary Scientology documentation in the world.[2]
The legal dispute was ongoing when the publisher wished to distribute the work, so they altered the design of the book cover. The book cover instead featured a letter addressed "Dear Bookbuyer:"
This is not the jacket we planned for this book. We have been forced to use this makeshift design in order to safeguard our right to ship MESSIAH OR MADMAN? [caps in original text] to the public. We consider it our duty to make this important book available to you as soon as possible - despite the ongoing legal harassment we are suffering. The contents of L. RON HUBBARD, MESSIAH OR MADMAN? justify the enormous legal and personal problems that we have gone through. We are convinced that this book must not be suppressed at any cost! Later editions will bear a jacket consistent with our usual high standards. But since a restraining order had been placed on our first printing because of litigation over jacket design, we felt it imperative to release books to the public immediately. We are sure that the bookbuying public will understand, and support us in our fight to protect First Amendment liberties.[3]
The Church of Scientology even sent threatening letters to those planning to publish reviews of the book. The following message was sent to the St. Petersburg Times:
It has come to our attention that...[you] are considering publication of a review of _L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?_ by Bent Corydon....If you forward one of his lies you will find yourself in court facing not only libel and slander charges, but also charges for conspiracy to violate civil rights. If you publish anything at all on it, you may still find yourself defending charges in court...We know a whole lot more about your institution and motives than you think[4]."
The newspaper did not comply with Scientology's requests, and went on to win an award from the Columbia Journalism Review.
[edit] Educational advertisements
According to an open letter to the New York Times by Lyle Stuart, he poured all the profits from the book into educational advertisements about Scientology:
You can help fight this cult and the other cult exploiters of the innocent, the naive and the idealistic. For one thing, visit your local bookshop and purchase one or more copies of L RON HUBBARD. MESSIAH OR MADMAN?, I am putting all the profits from this book into educational ads such as this one. Give a copy to your teenagers and give one to the professionals you know, dentists, veterinarian, optometrist, osteopath, chiropractor or orthodontist. The Scientologists have a new front organization called Sterling Management Corp. To rake in additional millions from professionals like these. [5]
[edit] References
- ^ FACTnet, Full Text, Golden, Colorado, retrieved 11/17/2006.
- ^ The Ultimate Spin Doctor: L. Ron Hubbard - The Man and His Myth, Vol. 13, No. 5, 1996, The Watchman Expositor, Craig Branch
- ^ L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?, Bent Corydon, Ronald DeWolf, Book Cover, 1987 edition, Lyle Stuart, Inc.
- ^ Letter from Scientology, St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1987.
- ^ Lyle Stuart's Open letter in the New York Times, New York Times, Lyle Stuart, Jan 3, 1988, Page 2 Book Review section
[edit] External links
- Understanding Scientology, Margery Wakefield, Chapter 2
- 'Brainwashing Manual Parallels in Scientology', by Brian Ambry
[edit] Full text
- Full Text of Messiah or Madman?, Operation Clambake, Plaintext version 1.0, August 18, 1998
- Full Text at F.A.C.T.Net, Inc., provided as "part of an electronic lending library and preservational electronic archive."
Unfortunately, the electronic text is only of the 1987 rush-to-print edition.
Hopefully, eventually, someone will make an electronic text available of the complete (with 62 added pages, added footnotes, new "flap" material, and new Index) 1995/1996 464 page 3rd edition.
[edit] Book Reviews
- Review, Psychology Today, June, 1988, Eleanor Grant
[edit] Legal related
- The Ultimate Spin Doctor: L. Ron Hubbard - The Man and His Myth, Vol. 13, No. 5, 1996, The Watchman Expositor, Craig Branch
- Lyle Stuart's Open letter in the New York Times, New York Times, Lyle Stuart, Jan 3, 1988, Page 2 Book Review section
- Scientology's history of harassing writers of books, Ron Newman
[edit] See also
- Bare Faced Messiah, biography, also had been involved in legal issues with Scientology
- A Piece of Blue Sky, also had been involved in legal issues with Scientology
