[4] He had become increasingly bitter in the months of disagreement and opposed any effort by the Board of Directors to restore normal relations with the Trustees and to keep the church from being drawn into litigation with them.

His bitterness was directed not only at the Trustees, but the other Directors, and, according to Norman Beasley, "his criticism was sharply personal, and openly contemptuous," leading to his dismissal in March 1919.

"[7] According to Dittemore in the preface to The Truth and the Tradition, he came to the view in 1928 that Eddy's work had borrowed heavily from the unpublished manuscripts of New England "mental healer" Phineas Parkhurst Quimby.

The latter is about a lawsuit in which Eddy was involved toward the end of her life, when her relatives sought unsuccessfully to have her declared unable to manage her affairs.

[3] Meehan was a journalist who wrote favorably of Eddy, and she initially approved the publication but later asked the author not to release it, although he ended up self-publishing it.

[3][11] Historian Ralph Henry Gabriel wrote in 1933 that, because of the amount of primary-source material to which Dittemore had access, the book "comes very close to being a definitive history of a strangely paradoxical woman".

[12] On March 23, 1937, shortly before his death, Dittemore wrote a letter to the Board of Directors of the Mother Church expressing repentance for his actions: Gentlemen: As the result of experience over a period of years and a great deal of serious study devoted to the science of government, I have come to the humble conclusion that I made a great mistake in allowing personal differences of opinion and the feelings that developed therefrom, to influence me to the extent which they evidently did after Mrs. Eddy passed on.

And while I acted upon convictions which I regarded as right at the time, I have since been led to see, and am anxious to go on record as admitting it, that I was wrong in letting personal opinion and matters of policy induce me to depart from Principle.

I am happy to forward you this letter to use as you may see fit and to sincerely announce as my fervent desire that the Cause which you represent may continue to grow and prosper under your direction.Yours in Truth, John V.