Inside Scientology

by Reitman, Janet

• ISBN13: 9780618883028
• ISBN10: 0618883029
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-07-05
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

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 Scientologyis 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 requirementthat 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.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The World's Fastest-Growing Religion	p. ix
The Founder	p. 3
Dianetics	p. 22
The Franchised Faith	p. 39
The Bridge to Total Freedom	p. 67
Travels with the Commodore	p. 89
Over the Rainbow	p. 111
DM	p. 125
Power Is Assumed	p. 146
Lisa	p. 175
Flag	p. 192
Seventeen Days	p. 208
The Greatest Good	p. 224
The Celebrity Strategy	p. 253
The Seduction of Tom Cruise	p. 272
The Bubble	p. 295
Int	p. 316
Exodus	p. 337
Epilogue: What Is True for You	p. 355
Notes	p. 371
Selected Bibliography	p. 414
Acknowledgments	p. 423
Index	p. 426
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