Mike Rinder's Top Book Recommendations

‘A brilliant exposé of Scientology’s conman king’ John Sweeney

‘Unfolds like an epic and ultimately tragic film’ Tony Ortega

‘Russell Miller did the ground-breaking work on Hubbard and the Church of Scientology that every future biographer relies upon’ Lawrence Wright

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 twentieth 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 organisation was created.