Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion - Paperback

by Janet Reitman (Author)

Based on five years of research, access to confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, Janet Reitman sheds some long-awaited light on the ever-elusive religion of the Church of Scientology.

Scientology, created in 1954 by pulp science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest growing religion, with millions of members and huge financial holdings. Celebrity believers keep its profile high. Teams of volunteer ministers offer aid at disaster sites like Haiti and the World Trade Center.

But Scientology is also a very closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating high levels of the government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. Ex-members use the internet to share stories of harassment and abuse.

Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology in an even-handed account that establishes the 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 global spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and ex-followers. This is a defining book about a little-known world.

Front Jacket

Scientology is known for its celebrity believers and its team of "volunteer ministers" at disaster sites such as the World Trade Center; its notably aggressive response to criticism or its attacks on psychiatry; its requirement that believers pay as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach the highest levels of salvation. But for all its notoriety, Scientology has remained America's least understood new religion, even as it has been one of its most successful.
Now Janet Reitman tells its riveting full story in the first objective modern history of Scientology, at last revealing the astonishing truth about life within the controversial religion for its members and ex-members. We watch the singular L. Ron Hubbard transform a self-help group into a worldwide spiritual corporation, at one point running the church from his personal fleet on the high seas before establishing its base in sleepy Clearwater, Florida. As he became increasingly paranoid and reclusive a young acolyte named David Miscavige assumed control; after Hubbard's death in 1986 he quickly purged the ranks and began to transform the church once again. Miscavige has overseen some of the church's greatest triumphs--among them a controversial billion-dollar IRS tax exemption and Tom Cruise's emergence as a vocal advocate--but he also has created a climate of fear and intimidation, according to ex-members whose stories of abuse Reitman shares. Reitman is the first to examine his twenty-five year reign and what it might mean for the future of the church.
Based on five years of research, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is an utterly compelling work of nonfiction and the defining work on an elusive faith.

Back Jacket

A masterful piece of reporting . . . Reitman tells a spellbinding story of a larger-than-life personality whose quirks, ticks and charisma shaped America s newest homegrown religious movement. " Washington Post"
Scientology is known for its celebrity believers and its team of volunteer ministers at disaster sites such as the World Trade Center; its notably aggressive response to criticism or its attacks on psychiatry; its requirement that believers pay as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach the highest levels of salvation. But for all its notoriety, Scientology has remained America s least understood new religion, even as it has been one of its most successful.
Now Janet Reitman tells its riveting full story in the first objective modern history of Scientology, at last revealing the astonishing truth about life within the controversial religion for its members and ex-members. Based on five years of research, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is an utterly compelling work of nonfiction and the defining work on an elusive faith.
A meticulously researched history and revealing expose, a frightening portrait of a religion that many find not just controversial, but dangerous. "Boston Globe "
This book is fearless. "Wall Street Journal "
A "New York Times" Notable Book
Amazon.com Best Books of 2011, Nonfiction
"San Francisco Chronicle "Top Ten of 2011
[insert author photo] JANET REITMAN is a contributing editor at "Rolling Stone." Her work has appeared in "GQ," "Men s Journal," the "Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine," and the "Washington Post," among other publications. She holds a master s degree in journalism from Columbia University and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in 2007 for the story Inside Scientology.
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Author Biography

JANET REITMAN is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Her work has appeared in GQ, Men's Journal, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Marie Claire, and the Washington Post, among other publications. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in 2007 for the story Inside Scientology.