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 government to further
its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as
much as 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 even-handed 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 pseudo-scientific 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 little-known world.

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