num_pages: 430
description: A clear-sighted revelation a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack the Looming Tower. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate (and legally acknowledged) religion; its vast secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard.At the book's center two men whom Wright brings vividly to life showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard--whose restless expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era. And his successor David Miscavige--tough and driven with the unenviable task of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults.We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; about the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; about the Bridge to Total Freedom through which members gain eternal life. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org the church's clergy whose members often enter as children signing up with a billion-year contract and working with little pay in poor conditions. We meet men and women disconnected from friends and family by the church's policy of shunning critical voices. And we discover through many firsthand stories the violence that has long permeated the inner sanctum of the church.In Going Clear Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion and whether Scientology is in fact deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observations understanding and synthesis and his ability to shape a story into a compelling narrative Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate expos and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
language: English
title: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
publisher: Alfred A. Knopf