Lawrence Wright

Examines the Church of Scientology; discusses the esoteric cosmology, the auditing process for determining an inductee's state of being, and the Bridge for Total Freedom; and details how the church pursues celebrities.

Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

Going Clear

Becky A

A really fascinating, in-depth look at how Scientology developed and how it functions, why it's so closely linked to Hollywood, and why people have such a hard time getting out. It's very thorough -- I just wish it had a few more recent developments (Katie Holmes and Leah Remini leaving in particular).

Jacob Mishook

The first half, focusing on L. Ron Hubbard, is a very interesting story of a true American eccentric. The second half, focusing more on Hollywood and the Church after Hubbard's death, is poorly organized and somewhat confusing - it feels like there's an overview of the current church that is missing.

John-Paul Teti

This book is terrific. Wright’s willingness to risk defamation, surveillance, stalking, and bankrupting lawsuits in order to tell the truth about a horrifying and oppressive cult is a little bit amazing. It gives me some pause that Wright relies heavily on anonymous sources; though this is probably unavoidable given the topic, it requires placing a little more trust in Wright and his sources than I’m entirely comfortable with. Still, enough of the worst claims are well-sourced and well-documented that I am inclined to believe him, and I cannot help but be horrified by the human rights abuses of Scientology and its intolerance and cruelty to its opponents, as well as offended by the attempts of Scientologists to legitimize their monstrous business joke masquerading as a religion by comparing it to Roman Catholicism. What a feat of reporting, and what an awful story. The whole organization ought to be destroyed.

Teresa Schultz

I read Wright's New Yorker article on Paul Haggis' split from Scientology that prompted this book, so of course I had to pick it up when I discovered it was coming out. The book does a really good job of expanding on that story and giving a full look at Scientology. Other articles have gone deeper into certain aspects of the religion, such as that Tamp Bay Times look into the death of Linda McPherson, but Wright does a great job of wrapping them all together into one big picture covering the church's founding, its growth in Hollywood, its fights with outsiders and its treatment of its most devout members. He also fleshes out the story of Haggis some more, including the ramifications of his departure.

Going Clear is not going to win any Scientologists as fans. Lawrence Wright definitely doesn't shy away from calling the religion out for its gross abuses of both people and money. I knew Scientologists have been horrible against people who spoke out against their practices, but Going Clear shows the full depths of their depravity - for instance, taking one woman away from her newborn child and feeding her little food when she was pregnant with her second child. She eventually escaped, but only after finding her first child sick with whooping cough and in a soaked diaper and bed. Her second child was born at full term but severely underweight. Horrifying.

But Wright also does a good job of trying to be fair to Scientology when he can (which isn't often.) I think he makes it clear that most people in the religion truly believe they are doing what is needed to save themselves and the world. And really, they're the ones who by far suffer the most. It's tragic to see that Miscavige, and Hubbard before him, can take that deep desire for salvation and twist it to his purposes.

My one disappointment in this book was the section dealing with the history of L. Ron Hubbard and how he came to create Scientology. It really dragged over the second and third chapters. I think part of this is because Wright got too caught up in boring details and also quoted so much from Hubbard, which while it gives a good view of the man from his own voice, was also bad because I think Hubbard was a boring and redundant writer. (Oh, and I was really hoping Wright would go into Katie's split from Tom Cruise, but that's just the gossip in me.)

G. Jason Head

One of the better expose books on scientology. Considering how secretive and un-media-friendly Scientology is, I think this is also a fair assessment. 

Wright makes an effort to allow Scientology to respond, but they seem to just put their foot in their mouth every time they have a chance to respond. In fact, the most reasonable argument to actually *support* scientology come from Wright himself - especially in the epilogue where he tries to be fair and present an opposing view. 

As usual, Miscavaige is not portrayed well at all - he seems like a horrible, human being and also seems to do more harm to his organization than good. I've often wondered why he doesn't do more interviews or allow more access to himself from the media. But while reading this book I watched his interview on ABC news (search on YouTube) and he does not interview well at all - especially for someone portrayed as such a higher-up. 

As a non-fiction, expose book, I would recommend this book.

Going Clear Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

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