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

By Lawrence Wright

Book Overview

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.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307745309
• ISBN13: 9780307745309
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Lots of detail and food for thought

I love reading about cults, and I've never read anything by Lawrence Wright that I didn't like, so I was all-in from the very beginning on Going Clear. Much of what is in the book has been cited in various articles, documentaries, and published personal accounts from defectors. Still, Wright does a fantastic job of bringing it all together and synthesizing it into a coherent narrative, adding details that make this a compelling (if not sometimes infuriating) read even for those familiar with Scientology. The book begins at the beginning, with an in-depth look at Scientology's founder, the charismatic and prolific L. Ron Hubbard, a man who still holds the world record for the number of books written during his lifetime. We learn how Hubbard made the battle against psychiatry a lifelong mission, and how he evolved from being a dreamy sci-fi writer who cynically founded a religion-as-business to a deluded church leader, high on his own supply, convinced of his own divinity. We meet the women in Hubbard's life, his children, and some of his most ardent supporters, some of whom do not survive their association with the church. After Hubbard's death, the narrative shifts to examining the current leader of the organization, a man with striking similarities—and differences—from Hubbard. We learn about how members of the Hollywood elite are drawn into Scientology, and how the organization maintains those relationships through its celebrity center in Los Angeles. The most interesting part about the book (and possibly the most interesting thing about cults in general) is a consideration of what makes one group's set of beliefs an 'absurd cult' and what makes another group's beliefs an 'official religion'. Wright doesn't rush us to easy answers, and I appreciate it. He asks us to consider our own biases about how we define religion, and asks us to reflect on why many people want (and need) to believe things that are not true to be the best version of themselves. This is a pretty long book, but I blazed through it quickly (even with all the legal disclaimers). There's a lot to consider here for anyone who has looked at religious people and wondered how intelligent people allow denial and existential fear to inspire beliefs that have no basis in reality.

Creepy

Book is very good at describing the works of a madman and how under miscavige it's even worse. Scientology is true evil. You'll need a million showers after reading this. The filth that showered upon the world by a washed sci-fi writer is disgusting

fascinating

a well written and fascinating history of a cult. a must read foe those who want to learn about scientology

More Insane Than Tiger King

I had no idea how absolutely insane Scientology is. Every page I said to myself "there's no way it gets crazier than this", but it did, every time, and the story is still going in the news today.

Very Informative

This book is very thorough & involved a lot of research. It gives a great overview but much of the details are disturbing. This is something that people should know about & BEWARE. Only issue I had was the fact that Leah Remini was not mentioned once in the entire book. She was & is a celebrity & everyone else with ties to Hollywood was mentioned. If not for that, I would give it 5 stars.