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.