NEW YORK, N.Y. /Publishers Newswire/ — Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Looming Tower,” has written a revelatory book about the Church of Scientology titled “GOING CLEAR: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief” (ISBN: 978-0307700667), published on January 17th by Alfred A. Knopf. The book offers an exhaustive account of the church, from its founding by L. Ron Hubbard to its present-day leadership under David Miscavige.
“GOING CLEAR” is published simultaneously as an eBook, an enhanced eBook, and as a Random House Audiobook. “GOING CLEAR: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief” is based on more than two hundred interviews with current and former Scientologists, as well as other sources.
During his three-year investigation, Wright was not only able to convince former members to discuss their separation from the church, he was also able to persuade current Scientologists to speak candidly about their experiences. He looks into the church’s financial resources and examines their tax-exempt status. He presents startling new source material about its complex and controversial founder. And he examines the relationships of both Tom Cruise and John Travolta to the church.
“Scientology plays an outsize role in the cast of new religions that have arisen in the twentieth century,” Wright observes. “I was drawn to write this book by the questions many people have about Scientology: What is it that makes this religion alluring? What do its adherents get out of it? How can rational-seeming people subscribe to beliefs that others find incomprehensible? Why do popular personalities associate themselves with a faith that is likely to create public relations martyrdom?”
A portion of this material appeared in an article Wright wrote for The New Yorker.
Knopf has set a first printing of 150,000 copies for GOING CLEAR.
Alfred A. Knopf is the flagship imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is a division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG, the international media company. For more information about Alfred A. Knopf, visit our website at http://www.aaknopf.com
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