Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

A brilliant insight into Scientology provided by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the now classic analysis of al-Qaeda's 9/11 assault, The Looming Tower. The Church of Scientology's inner workings are revealed to us by Lawrence Wright, an extraordinary investigator, based on over two hundred personal interviews with prominent and lesser-known Scientologists as well as years of archival research. These interviews cover the organization's beginnings in the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard's mind, its struggles to gain recognition as a legitimate religion, its extensive, covert effort to infiltrate the U.S. government, and its dramatic attempts to grow and succeed after Hubbard's passing.

Two guys that Wright eloquently depicts and who are at the heart of the book demonstrate how they have shaped Scientology into what it is today: The darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard created a new religion specifically designed to flourish in the spiritually turbulent post-World War II age. His inventive and restless intellect produced this religion. David Miscavige, his fierce and determined successor, had the difficult challenge of protecting the church from continuous scandals and legal attacks.

We study the esoteric cosmology of Scientology; the auditing procedure that ascertains the inductee's state of being; and the Bridge to Total Freedom, which grants members access to endless life. We see the methods by which the religion goes after famous people, such Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org, the clergy of the church, whose members often join as minors, sign up with a billion-year contract and labour in subpar circumstances for little remuneration. We encounter men and women who, as a result of the church's policy of excluding critical voices, are "disconnected" from friends and family. And through several first-hand accounts, we learn about the violence that has long been a part of the church's inner sanctuary.

Wright explores in Going Clear what, in essence, qualifies as a religion and if Scientology is really worthy of the constitutional protections it won against the IRS. Using all of his extraordinary journalistic abilities—observation, comprehension, and synthesis—as well as his skill at crafting a gripping story, Lawrence Wright has given us a fair-minded yet razor-sharp book that delves deeply into the organization's core beliefs and goes far beyond a simple exposé.