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]."

Bent Corydon, the former head of the Riverside mission, said in his unauthorized biography of Hubbard that he was once ordered to sell his flock 1,000 copies of "Battlefield Earth" or lose his mission.

The fright created by a Stephen King horror novel can be quickly laughed off. But this highly unauthorized biography of the founder of Scientology creates a weirder-than-fiction chill that doesn't go away.

Dozens of people who once adored L. Ron Hubbard testify in the book that he attacked with cruel vengeance those who threatened him.

Hubbard had a policy that Scientology's critics "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist . . . May be tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed," the book says. (Hubbard publicly rescinded the policy in 1968, but the book says it remained in force and was carried out covertly.)

Although the book tells of physical violence against ex-Scientologists, it is mainly stories of lawsuits against critics that pervade it.

This is not a book of subtlety or high style. The material is presented almost like evidence at a trial. But, since the tales of goings-on in the upper realms of Scientology are so bizarre, it's rarely dull.

The Church of Scientology can't stand the truth, Truth will destroy it. That's why they're so upset about our book L. RON HUBBARD, MESSIAH OR MADMAN? It was written by Bent Corydon with information furnished by L. Ron Hubbard, Jr.

The Scientologists have spent $400,000 trying to suppress L. RON HUBBARD, MESSIAH OR MADMAN?

They've gone to court four times on this quest. All to no avail. The book is available to anyone who wants to buy one at a book shop. [...]

In the late '70s, about the time the Church of Scientology was fighting and trying to frame the Clearwater mayor, city commissioners and members of the press, some less-visible turmoil was bubbling beneath the surface at the Fort Harrison Hotel.

Guards stationed at the doors of Scientology's spiritual headquarters forcefully dissuaded malcontents from leaving, according to a book by a former Scientologist. In the hotel's basement, "suppressive" individuals - anyone who tried to escape was suppressive - were reportedly kept in conditions that visitors seldom if ever saw.

That was eight years ago. But Bent Corydon, a church member for almost 20 years and the author of L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?, says little about Scientology has changed. [...]

On April 10th of 1953 he wrote to Helen O'Brian, then a franchise holder in Philadelphia:

We don't want a clinic. We want one in operation, but not in name. Perhaps we could call it Spiritual Guidance Center...we could put in nice desks and our boys in neat blue, with diplomas on the walls and one, knock psychotherapy into history and, two, make enough money to shine up my operating scope and, three, keep the HAS [Hubbard Association of Scientologists] solvent....I await your reaction on the religion angle. [emphasis added] In my opinion, we couldn't get worse public opinion than we have had or have less customers with what we've got to sell.

Bent Corydon, chief of the mission in Riverside, Calif., which was one of the church's largest (1,000 members), claims that dark-shirted "finance policemen" demanded that he turn over $40,000 in the mission's treasury. He complied, and has since set up a new church unaffiliated with Scientology. "I got fed up with the young guys," he says. "The church has been attacking its own loyal people."

Bent Corydon, author of "Messiah or Madman," discusses the book and other topics with a group of Scientologists.