★★★★★ Scientology exposed

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

Lawrence Wright

I read this ten years ago. Normally my memories of a book I read ten years ago are vague, but I still remember this one fairly clearly, which is a point in its favor. This was, I believe, the first big book-length exposé of the Church of Scientology (COS hence). More have appeared since then, but Wright still deserves credit for getting there first. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief describes the structure of COS in some detail. And COS's presence in the entertainment industry is a focus, as suggested by the subtitle. I hadn't known most of this before I read the book.

28-Sep-2023: I am now reading Robert Galbraith's The Running Grave, a mystery novel about a fictional wealthy, powerful cult with celebrity members. It reminds me forcibly of Going Clear. To be clear, COS is not mentioned at all in The Running Grave.

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