Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
Jan 2013 · Sold by Vintage
4.3star
99 reviews
Ebook
448
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About this ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes “an utterly necessary story” (The Wall Street Journal) that pulls back the curtain on the church of Scientology: one of the most secretive organizations at work today. • The Basis for the HBO Documentary.
Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.
Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.
Ratings and reviews
4.3
99 reviews
Joy Holder
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November 22, 2013
When you know nothing about it you can not judge it. Scientology helped me many times in my life and when one uses scientology as it is supposed to be used it is not harmful or cult-like at all. I will always love scientology and what it has helped me attain in life. As for the things people say badly about it well there are many things in this world that have bad people in them but it does not make a whole group bad.
2 people found this review helpful
Zach Scheffler
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February 23, 2014
Chronicling the origin, history, and exploits of one of the most high-profile (and highly controversial) belief communities in the past century, this book is terrifying in its frank discussion of Scientology's founder and followers. To say it's deeply affecting would be an understatement.
1 person found this review helpful
Ripley Johnson
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January 22, 2013
The amazing tale of L Ron Hubbard's life, stories, followers, and legacy has been painstakingly unearthed and wrestled from the dark cellars of secrecy and misinformation in such a compelling way that it is a challenge to stop turning pages. This book was thought provoking and informative without any sensationalism or hyperbole. A fair representation of truth mixed with lingering questions that are bound to arise from such a secretive organization.
3 people found this review helpful
About the author
LAWRENCE WRIGHT is a staff writer for The New Yorker, a playwright, and a screenwriter. He is the best-selling author of the novel, The End of October, and ten books of nonfiction, including Going Clear, God Save Texas, and The Looming Tower, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas.
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