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REVIEWS]

Scientology under the Looking Glass WENDY M. GROSSMAN

riting about the Church of Sci- entology (CoS) requires brav- Wery. The author of the first Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion journalistic book about the organiza- By Janet Reitman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, tion, Paulette Cooper, nearly went to Boston, 2011. ISBN: 978-01-618-88302-8. 444 pp. Hardcover, $28. jail on a framed drugs charge after her book was published in 1971. Richard Behar’s 1991 article, “The Cult of Greed,” cost Time magazine seven years and $10 million to defend. While re- searching that story, Behar noted in a sidebar, at least ten attorneys and six private detectives were assigned to CoS and its works has more in common against psychiatry. Famous beginning “threaten, harass, and discredit” him. with those of Scien tology’s critics. It is in the 1950s, Scientology found trac- Nothing so dramatic happened unsurprising to learn, therefore, that the tion among the exploring 1960s gener- when I covered for Wired the Church CoS has issued a seven-page complaint ation. For some people, it worked or of Scientology’s 1993–1995 efforts to about the book, calling it poorly re- seemed to; for others, it brought psy- contain criticism on the Internet; the searched, inaccurate, and devoid of chotic breakdown. creepiest moment was getting an email input from insiders. Less familiar material starts with the message demanding details of what I In an interview with Slate (www. coup that saw David Miscavige, a Sci- wanted from a top Scientology PR slate.com/id/2298771/), Reitman has entologist from the age of eleven, take agent less than twenty-four hours after re sponded that she spent three days control of an increasingly paranoid or- requesting an interview with someone with the CoS’s current spokesman, ganization. From there, Reit man moves I’d found online who appeared to be Tommy David, and visited its interna- on to the building of Sci en tology’s base entirely independent. As long as I tional base and one of its schools. The in Clearwater, Florida, and in great de- avoided peeking up the financial skirts book is full of quotes from what were tail describes the notorious case of Lisa of the CoS, I was advised at the time by clearly lengthy interviews with many McPherson, who died in a CoS-owned an experienced former Scientologist, I Scientologists—most were disaffected, hotel after undergoing a mental break- should be all right. I did, and I was. but some were still members when the down and a cleansing procedure that All of that is likely why, as Reitman interviews took place. I would not call was supposed to cure it. After that, says, there have been no independent it underresearched. journalistic books about Scientology in Approximately the first third of the the past twenty-five years. Between book reviews material that will be As long as I avoided peeking 1987, when British journalist Russell largely familiar to any who have read Miller tackled the biography of founder earlier Hubbard biographies such as up the financial skirts of L. Ron Hubbard, and 2005, when Reit - Bent Corydon’s Messiah or Madman? the Church of Scientology, man began researching the 2006 Roll - (Lyle Stuart, 1987) or Russell Miller’s I was advised at the time ing Stone article that formed the basis of Bare-Faced Messiah (Michael Joseph, by an experienced this book, the field was left to Scientol- 1987). Reitman reviews Hubbard’s ogists past and present. Mem bers tend early life, the contradictory accounts of former Scientologist, to write propaganda; those who’ve left his military career, his work as a pulp I should be all right. tend to write out of pain, anger, and be- fiction writer, and his marriages, as well I did, and I was. trayal. Reit man aims to be neutral, but as the origins of Dianetics, Scientology, it’s fair to say that her account of the and Hubbard’s personal vendetta

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[NEW AND NOTABLE

Listing does not preclude future review. 50 POPULAR BELIEFS THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE TRUE. Reitman covers Scientology’s outreach to Guy P. Harrison.Partly highly readable debunking, partly a celebrities and examines the lives of those presentation of the real scientific stories behind popular be- who have grown up in Scientology. Finally, liefs in eight categories: magical thinking, aliens and astrol- she reviews the CoS’s long-running battle ogy, science and reason, strange healings, lure of the gods, with the IRS and takes a brief look at its fi- unusual beings, weird places, and doomsday warnings. Prometheus Books, 2011, 447 pp., $18. nances, which she argues now rely on re- turns on its extensive real estate more than the auditing fees for which it is famous. Membership, she concludes, is shrinking de- spite its claims to the contrary. HEAVEN ON EARTH: The Varieties of Millennial People in Los Angeles will readily tell Experience. Richard Landes. A thorough and insightful you that Scientology offers young actors survey of apocalyptic movements, including examples from secular and political movements over the centuries. training and career help in return for pro- Oxford University Press, 2011, 499 pp., $35. motion later on. Hubbard originated this idea, but it was Miscavige who put it into practice by building the Celebrity Centre. There, stars like Tom Cruise and John Tra - IS THERE ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT MEN? How Cultures volta see a much more indulgent version of Flourish by Exploiting Men. Roy Baumeister. Written by a Scientology. Staff and insiders live strictly professor of psychology at Florida State University, this book challenges many assumptions about male privilege and controlled lives, working up to eighteen- dominance in American culture, pointing out that in many hour days for little or no pay, and they may ways men are considered more disposable than women. be punished for infractions by the withhold- Oxford University Press, 2010, 303 pp., $24.95. ing of food or sleep. The celebrity strategy has its drawbacks, as Miscavige learned in 2005 when Tom Cruise freaked out publicly on Oprah’s sofa. THE PARANORMAL: Who Believes, Why They Believe, and Why It Matters. Erich Goode. Not a debunking or Reitman’s most interesting sections are claims-investigating book but a sociologist’s well-informed those in which she follows the adolescent attempt to explain paranormal belief as a sociological struggles of teens raised inside Scientology. phenomenon—who believes, why, and what are the Some rebel and are punished; others fall in consequences? Prometheus Books, 2011, 323 pp., $19. love and grapple with the conflict between their personal desires and the demands of their Scientology careers; a few regroup and A THOUSAND DARKNESSES: Lies and Truth in Holocaust thrive. Reitman is particularly im pressed by Fiction. Ruth Franklin. A fascinating discussion about the their poise, and she notes that in the orga- sensitive intersection of fiction and truth in Holocaust nization’s schools Hub bard implemented writings and memoirs; faked stories have given ammunition teaching techniques that are now common- to Holocaust deniers, yet providing the absolute truth about place. For these kids, the Internet has been such an event may be impossible. Oxford University Press, a game-changer: it is no longer possible to 2010, 272 pp., $29.95. keep them away from all outside views. With all this material to draw on, it’s not surprising that Reitman devotes only a para- WEREWOLVES: Myth, Mystery, and Magick. Katie Boyd. graph or so to Scientology’s battle to keep its An interesting, if not very skeptical, hodgepodge of werewolf upper-level documents off the Internet. For- lore and legend, including brief discussions of rabies, mer insiders say that Hubbard was very quick werewolf films and television shows, and were-beasts from to catch on to the usefulness and importance around the world. Schiffer Publishing, 2011, 160 pp., $16.99. of computers and that the CoS was a pioneer in its use of computer systems. As compre- hensive as Reit man’s book is, somewhere —Benjamin Radford and Kendrick Frazier therein lies another tale for the next brave writer. n

Wendy M. Grossman is founder and (two-time) former editor of the United Kingdom’s The Skeptic magazine and a freelance writer.

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