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 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 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 little-known world.

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