Oak Hill Public Library

Going clear : Scientology, Hollywood, and the prison of belief

by Lawrence Wright

Publishers Weekly Pulitzer winner Wright (The Looming Tower) expands and carefully footnotes his investigation of Scientology, which began as a 2011 New Yorker article examining the defection of acclaimed screenwriter-director Paul Haggis from the church. The book-length version offers-in persuasive, albeit sometimes mind-numbing, detail-an eye-opening short biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and a long-form journalism presentation of the creature Hubbard birthed: a self-help system complete with bizarre cosmology, celebrity sex appeal, lawyers, consistent allegations of physical abuse, and expensive answers for spiritual consumers. Wright capably sows his thorough reportage into ground broken by Janet Reitman (Inside Scientology, 2011). He poses larger questions about the nature of belief, but can only lay groundwork because he has to fight to establish facts, given the secrecy and controversy surrounding Scientology, and his eyewitnesses are necessarily disenchanted and therefore adversarial. While Wright's brave reporting offers an essential reality test, an analysis of why this sci-fi and faith brew quenches a quasi-religious thirst in its followers is still needed. First printing 150,000. Agent: Andrew Wylie, the Wylie Agency. (Jan. 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Book list *Starred Review* Immersed in this book, the reader is drawn along by tantalizing revelations while simultaneously exhausted, longing for escape from its cloistered world mirroring the accounts of many former Scientologists on the record, here. In efficient, unemotional prose, Wright begins with the biography of founder L. Ron Hubbard: his days as a prodigiously prolific writer of pulp fiction, his odd military career, the publication of his breakthrough self-help book Dianetics (1950), and the influence, riches, and controversy that have followed since he founded the Church of Scientology in 1954. For those aware of Scientology through its celebrity adherents (Tom Cruise and John Travolta are the best known) rather than its works, the sheer scope of the church's influence and activities will prove jaw-dropping. Wright paints a picture of organizational chaos and a leader, David Miscavige, who rules by violence and intimidation; of file-gathering paranoia and vengefulness toward apostates and critics; of victories over perceived enemies, including the U.S. government, won through persuasion, ruthless litigation, and dirty tricks. Even more shocking may be the portrayal of the Sea Org, a cadre of true believers whose members sign contracts for a billion years of service, and toil in conditions of indentured servitude, punished mercilessly for inadvertent psychic offenses. Their treatment is a far cry from the coddling afforded to the much-courted celebrities. (Wright does point out that, for whatever reason, most Sea Org members remain in service voluntarily.) Page after page of damaging testimony, often from formerly high-ranking officers, is footnoted with blanket denials from the church and other parties (e.g., The church categorically denies all charges of Miscavige's abuse and Cruise, through his attorney, denies that he ever retreated from his commitment to Scientology ). Readers will have to decide whether to believe the Pulitzer-winning author's carefully sourced reporting, or the church's rebuttals. But, quoting Paul Haggis, the Academy Award-winning film director and former Scientologist whom Wright first profiled in the New Yorker: if only a fraction of these accusations are true, we are talking about serious, indefensible human and civil rights violations. Going Clear offers a fascinating look behind the curtain of an organization whose ambition and influence are often at odds with its secretive ways. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The publisher's announced first printing of 150,000 seems right on the money. Wright will be promoting the book on a seven-city tour, but its reputation precedes him.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright � American Library Association. Used with permission.

Choice Wright (staff writer, The New Yorker) bases his volume on Scientology in large part on hundreds of personal interviews of "outsiders" and "insiders." This journalistic approach favors many, many personal stories. It also expresses itself in popular ways, referencing, for instance, Ted Koppel's Nightline. Paul Haggis, David Miscavige, Mark Rathbun, and Ron Hubbard (founder) are among the most favored. Wright correctly states that Scientology "orients itself toward celebrity." John Travolta and especially Tom Cruise are given wide and special coverage. The book is loaded with both positive and negative material in relation to Scientology. Anyone interested in a journalistic approach given by a Pulitzer Prize winner will enjoy this book. However, serious historians will favor religious historian Hugh Urban's The Church of Scientology (CH, Jan'12, 49-2620), which this reviewer evaluated as "probably the best history available of this terribly tangled story." Going Clear lacks traditional numbered footnotes, but has 42 pages of references to items with page numbers. This economic approach is not reader-friendly. Wright is certainly an excellent and perceptive journalist, whose book makes clear that, yes, Scientology does qualify as yet one more world religion. Good index and brief bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers. G. H. Shriver emeritus, Georgia Southern University

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