Lyle Stuart (born August 11, 1922, died June 24, 2006) was an American independent publisher of controversial books.

He made headlines in 1997 with his then-current Barricade Books, by reissuing The Turner Diaries, thought to have been the inspiration behind the Oklahoma bombing. He was a strong advocate of freedom of the press, and believed it was important for people to be able to read and make up their own minds (in the introduction he wrote to his reissue of The Turner Diaries, he made clear how strongly he opposed the viewpoint expressed in the book). Also in the Nineties, Stuart falsely claimed that casino mogul Steve Wynn had Mafia connections, for which he was held liable in Nevada for 3 million dollars in defamation. Stuart claimed bankruptcy and Wynn eventually settled for a written apology.

Stuart first gained notoriety by taking on Walter Winchell in a series of scathing magazine articles, and he worked as a newsman for many years before beginning his book publishing company. After serving with the United States Merchant Marine and the Air Transport Command in World War II, he worked for William Randolph Hearst's International News Service, Variety, Music Business, and RTW Scout.

In 1951 he launched a monthly tabloid named Exposé (name later changed to The Independent) designed to publish those stories and articles that others wouldn’t dare publish because they might offend subscribers or advertisers. Contributors included Upton Sinclair, Norman Mailer, George Seldes, Ted O. Thackrey, and John Steinbeck. In 1956, with $8,000 of the money he collected from libel actions against Walter Winchell, Confidential, ABC-TV, and Editor & Publisher, he began his book publishing company, Lyle Stuart Inc.

Lyle Stuart died in 2006 at age 83.^[1][2] [...]

Excerpt pf A&E (1996), "Investigative Reports: Inside Scientology" @ XenuTV

Narrator: "Unusually prolific, Hubbard moved to New York and became a popular writer of adventure and science fiction stories. But those who knew him recall that Hubbard had other ambitions."

Lyle Stuart: "I knew Ron Hubbard before he ever started Scientology. I was in a writing group with him in Greenwich Village and he kept saying, 'You know, the only way to make any money, you can't do it with pulp writing, you got to, you start a religion.' And nobody took him very seriously." [...]

During the past fortnight I have read with dismay, the clumsy series of attacks against Time magazine by the so-called Church of Scientology.

I respect a publication's right to publish according to its own dictates. But I question your standards. You must be awfully hard-up to bow to this group of dangerous crazies.

To put it in perspective, would you publish a similar series of full page ads if they were placed by the Ku Klux Klan? If not, then you're hypocrites for there is very little essential difference in the philosophies with regard to non-members ("wogs" and "fresh meat") and the scorn for the physically disabled.

As someone who knew L. Ron Hubbard more than forty years ago, I can assure you that he was always money-hungry. And yourselves? [...]

Dear Reader:

"Our job as Scientologists is to suck every dime we can from a person," says a former recruiter, "We convince them that they are saving not just this world but the entire universe!"

Money is sucked from the victim. To reach the goal of $80,000 a customer, Scientology extracts it in chunks of $20,000 and $30,000 a year. In return, you're told you'll live forever! They even have you sign a billion-year Agreement!

Nonsense? Of course It is!

But prospects are never asked to swallow the whole crazy story in a single gulp. They are spoon fed small time-release capsules ... and when they swallow it all, they become robot-like. [...]