Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
Description
Description
National Book Award Finalist A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology. 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 science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion. And his successor, David Miscavige--tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church after the death of Hubbard. We learn about Scientology's complicated cosmology and special language. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how such stars are used to advance the church's goals. And we meet the young idealists who have joined the Sea Org, the church's clergy, signing up with a billion-year contract. In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of this constitutional protection. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observation, understanding, and shaping a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that reveals the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
About the Author
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.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
A New York Times Notable Book A Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, New York magazine, Slate, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, People, The Week, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews
A GoodReads Reader's Choice
"An utterly necessary story. . . . A feat of reporting." --The Wall Street Journal "Brings a clear-eyed, investigative fearlessness to Scientology . . . a rollicking, if deeply creepy, narrative ride, evidence that truth can be stranger even than science fiction." --The Washington Post "A hotly compelling read. It's a minutiae-packed book full of wild stories." --The New York Times "Courageous. . . . Devastating . . . will come as news even to hardened Scientology buffs who follow the Church's every twist and turn." --The Daily Beast "Essential reading. . . . Lawrence Wright bend[s] over backward to be fair to Scientology. . . . This makes the book's indictment that much more powerful." --The New York Times Book Review "Not to be read home alone on a stormy night: Going Clear, Lawrence Wright's scary book about Scientology and its influence. . . . It's a true horror story, the most comprehensive among a number of books published on the subject in the past few years, many of them personal accounts by people who have managed to escape or were evicted from the clutches of a group they came to feel was destroying them. . . . Wright's book is a tribute to fact-checkers as well as to his personal courage." --The New York Review of Books "Insightful, gripping, and ultimately tragic." --The Boston Globe "A fearless, compelling, exhaustive work of muckraking journalism and a masterpiece of storytelling. . . . A ripping yarn about ego, money, abuse, faith, and the corrupting nature of power when wielded by the wrong people. It's as lurid, pulpy, and preposterous-seeming as anything Hubbard or Haggis ever wrote, but it's much better, because it has the benefit of being true." --The A.V. Club "Invaluable. . . . Completely and conclusively damning." --Salon "Who'd have thought a history of religion would offer so many guilty pleasures? Lawrence Wright's enthralling account of Scientology's rise brims with celebrity scandal. To anyone who gets a sugar rush from Hollywood gossip, the chapters on Tom Cruise and John Travolta will feel like eating a case of Ding Dongs." --Los Angeles Times "Admirably judicious and thoroughly researched. . . . Being Clear is an inducement to darkness and disarray. You may laugh at it at first, but get ready to weep." --The Guardian (London) "Not only a titillating exposé on the reported 'you're kidding me' aspects of the religion, but a powerful examination of belief itself." --Entertainment Weekly "A fascinating read, and a chilling one. . . . The power in Wright's book lies as much in his meticulous investigative reporting as in his evenhanded approach." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Absorbing and important. . . . Scrupulous parsing is vintage Wright; his footnotes are as vital as those of any nonfiction writer alive." --The Plain Dealer "Mr. Wright's reportorial techniques seem impeccable. . . . Lawrence Wright shines a light on a world that prefers to keep its players off stage, and the public in the dark." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A powerful piece of reportage. . . . Detailed, intense and at times shocking." --The Miami Herald "Wholly engrossing stuff." --The Austin Chronicle "Wright's brave reporting offers an essential reality test. . . . Poses larger questions about the nature of belief." --Publishers Weekly "Devastating. . . . Wholly compelling. . . . Each page delivers startling facts that need no elaboration." --Kirkus Reviews (starred) "Jaw-dropping. . . . A fascinating look behind the curtain of an organization whose ambition and influence are often at odds with its secretive ways."--Booklist
A GoodReads Reader's Choice
"An utterly necessary story. . . . A feat of reporting." --The Wall Street Journal "Brings a clear-eyed, investigative fearlessness to Scientology . . . a rollicking, if deeply creepy, narrative ride, evidence that truth can be stranger even than science fiction." --The Washington Post "A hotly compelling read. It's a minutiae-packed book full of wild stories." --The New York Times "Courageous. . . . Devastating . . . will come as news even to hardened Scientology buffs who follow the Church's every twist and turn." --The Daily Beast "Essential reading. . . . Lawrence Wright bend[s] over backward to be fair to Scientology. . . . This makes the book's indictment that much more powerful." --The New York Times Book Review "Not to be read home alone on a stormy night: Going Clear, Lawrence Wright's scary book about Scientology and its influence. . . . It's a true horror story, the most comprehensive among a number of books published on the subject in the past few years, many of them personal accounts by people who have managed to escape or were evicted from the clutches of a group they came to feel was destroying them. . . . Wright's book is a tribute to fact-checkers as well as to his personal courage." --The New York Review of Books "Insightful, gripping, and ultimately tragic." --The Boston Globe "A fearless, compelling, exhaustive work of muckraking journalism and a masterpiece of storytelling. . . . A ripping yarn about ego, money, abuse, faith, and the corrupting nature of power when wielded by the wrong people. It's as lurid, pulpy, and preposterous-seeming as anything Hubbard or Haggis ever wrote, but it's much better, because it has the benefit of being true." --The A.V. Club "Invaluable. . . . Completely and conclusively damning." --Salon "Who'd have thought a history of religion would offer so many guilty pleasures? Lawrence Wright's enthralling account of Scientology's rise brims with celebrity scandal. To anyone who gets a sugar rush from Hollywood gossip, the chapters on Tom Cruise and John Travolta will feel like eating a case of Ding Dongs." --Los Angeles Times "Admirably judicious and thoroughly researched. . . . Being Clear is an inducement to darkness and disarray. You may laugh at it at first, but get ready to weep." --The Guardian (London) "Not only a titillating exposé on the reported 'you're kidding me' aspects of the religion, but a powerful examination of belief itself." --Entertainment Weekly "A fascinating read, and a chilling one. . . . The power in Wright's book lies as much in his meticulous investigative reporting as in his evenhanded approach." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Absorbing and important. . . . Scrupulous parsing is vintage Wright; his footnotes are as vital as those of any nonfiction writer alive." --The Plain Dealer "Mr. Wright's reportorial techniques seem impeccable. . . . Lawrence Wright shines a light on a world that prefers to keep its players off stage, and the public in the dark." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A powerful piece of reportage. . . . Detailed, intense and at times shocking." --The Miami Herald "Wholly engrossing stuff." --The Austin Chronicle "Wright's brave reporting offers an essential reality test. . . . Poses larger questions about the nature of belief." --Publishers Weekly "Devastating. . . . Wholly compelling. . . . Each page delivers startling facts that need no elaboration." --Kirkus Reviews (starred) "Jaw-dropping. . . . A fascinating look behind the curtain of an organization whose ambition and influence are often at odds with its secretive ways."--Booklist
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Vintage
Pub date:
2013-11-05
Length:
560 pages
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