Bare-Faced Messiah

The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard

By: Russell Miller

Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley

Length: 18 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

How did an obscure science fiction writer become one of the world's most notorious religious leaders?

Bare-Faced Messiah tells the extraordinary story of L. Ron Hubbard, a penniless science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology, became a millionaire prophet, and convinced his adoring followers that he alone could save the world.

According to his "official" biography, Hubbard was an explorer, engineer, scientist, war hero, and philosopher. But in the words of a Californian judge, he was schizophrenic, paranoid, and a pathological liar. What is not in dispute is that Hubbard was one of the most bizarre characters of the 20th century.

Bare-Faced Messiah exposes the myths surrounding the fascinating and mysterious founder of the Church of Scientology - a man of hypnotic charm and limitless imagination - and provides the definitive account of how the notorious organization was created.

©2015 Russell Miller (P)2021 Tantor

A thorough examination of cult leader, L Ron Hubbard

What turns somebody into a psychotic despot? Bare-Faced Messiah delves into the life and lies of L Ron Hubbard, writer, conman, and cult leader. Author Russell Miller presents a detailed and disturbing picture of the founder of Scientology. This is a must read for anyone interested in psychology, cults, and the tax payer funded ongoing human trafficking organization. That is Scientology.

So much worse than you thought

Hi was not sure what to expect. I had talked and texted with people about it and then started reading it and I couldn’t put it down. It is a fabulous book. Fillers really interesting ideas. For the first time I was able to get through something without blowing something up.

Great biography of L Ron Hubbard

Mostly, L Ron Hubbard comes out looking like a bad guy, confidence man, and rascal. But, there is also another side to him which this author does show you, basically a brilliant, charming, and manipulative leader. I saw a podcast on YouTube by Chris Shelton. Shelton himself is an interesting person, and he was in Scientology. Shelton had on an another guy, Dr Yuval Laor, who said Hubbard might have had temporal lobe epilepsy, which would’ve made it possible for Hubbard to both be a con man and simultaneously sincere about Scientology. The symptoms of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Hubbard’s strange behavior overlap, so it’s a very interesting unproven theory. The theory was in the back of my mind when listening to the book. Hubbard was clearly a highly complicated, brilliant, and sometimes dangerous figure. Great book. I enjoyed listening. The reader is excellent.

Inside the nuthouse....

a well-researched book on the notorious conman, L Ron Hubbard. He was a habitual liar and had paranoid schizophrenia, as just a small sampling of mental issues Hubbard had. I am amazed anyone would follow this false prophet as well as hand him or his 'church' boatloads of cash.

Horrible narration

Awesome book with remarkable research, facts which I’d never learned in many other books on the topic.
Please download a sample and listen before you buy; it might change your mind. The narrator is practically yelling with no segue from one paragraph to another to allow us to know that the topic changed. I had to reduce the speed to comprehend it.

Very interesting insight to LRH

I’ve been listening to a lot of books about Scientology by “survivors”, and it is interesting to hear an account of the founder of this cult. Sheesh the man was a legend in his own mind.

Loved the narration too.

Good

It was hard to tell who was the voice quite often. It was a lot of different accounts and no description of who each one was.

Worth the read

I had some trouble getting into this book but it turned out fairly good. Very informative and it did hold my interest. Ron L Hubbard was something else and the fact that a cult tried to suppress it made me raise the rating a notch!

Well put together!

A must read if you want to learn the true origins of Scientology and Dianetics

Well researched. Difficult to listen to.

The content of this book was well researched. The cadence of the narration was extremely difficult to listen to. I even tried changing the speed. It did not help.