Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named
L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest growing religion,
with millions of members around the world and huge financial
holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its
teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as
Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably
closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation
and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of the
government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its
requirement that believers pay into the tens and even hundreds of
thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and
skepticism. And ex-members use the Internet to share stories of
harassment and abuse.
Now Janet Reitman offers the first full
journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an evenhanded
account that at last establishes the astonishing truth about the
controversial religion. She traces Scientology's development from
the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a
pseudoscientific self-help group to a worldwide spiritual
corporation with profound control over its followers and even
ex-followers.
Based on five years of research, unprecedented
access to Church officials, confidential documents, and extensive
interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the
defining book about a still-unknown world.
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