Books about Scientology

A slight misnomer - these are links to books about the Church of Scientology and its founder L Ron Hubbard that are available on the Internet. They were mostly written when critics of the CoS were few and the CoS had the time and money to sue, vilify and harass the authors and their publishers into withdrawing the books from sale. In each case a quote from the book, its preface or blurb is included. Thanks to 'Azerty' for compiling and posting the original of this to ARS.

A Piece of Blue Sky

by Jon Atack

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack

Preface by Russell Miller

Because this book recounts the stark truth about Scientology, it is certain to provoke the ferocious hostility of practicing Scientologists around the world. Anyone who dares to publicly criticize the Church of Scientology or its founder is liable to be viiifled and hounded through the courts, as I can personally testify. (Although it is a mystery to me that Scientologists continue to believe that their founder was a man with the highest regard for the truth, whereas the records consistently indicate that he was a charlatan and a congenital liar.)

[In 1999 the CoS persuaded Internet booksellers Amazon books to stop selling this book by claiming it was 'banned in England'. This was untrue - only the author is banned from selling it as only he, not his publisher, was successfully sued for libel by a scientologist. Amazon resumed sales.]

Bare-Faced Messiah

by Russell Miller

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/bfm

[The definitive biography of L Ron Hubbard. Placed in the public domain by the author]

Introduction by Chris Owen

"What is true is what is true for you." - L. Ron Hubbard

The quotation above is one was one of Hubbard's favourite aphorisms, highlighting his claim that subjective truth is all that matters. If that's correct, then either account is equally plausible. But if objective truth is at all important, relying on evidence and reason rather than pure belief, then Bare-Faced Messiah is considerably more convincing. I have provided links between Miller's account of Hubbard's life and that of the Church of Scientology (on their Web site, http://www.lronhubbard.org ). Compare and contrast the two biographies, look at the supporting evidence and then decide for yourself.

Inside Scientology/Dianetics

How I Joined Dianetics/Scientology and Became Superhuman

by Robert Kaufman (1995 revision)

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/kaufman/isd/isd.htm

Scientology tried to steal my freedom of thought and speech, both when I was a member and after. That has only made me want to speak out all the more. In doing so, I have your freedom in mind also. You are about to enjoy a true science fiction adventure in "another world here on earth." Entertainment, yes. But I also wish to share with you -- perhaps with an intensity you haven't known for a while -- the preciousness, the blessedness, of our right to think and speak as we choose.

Your freedom. My freedom. Our freedom.

Lonesome Squirrel

by Steven Fishman

http://www.xs4all.nl/~fishman/ls/indexls.html

Don't bother looking up Mind Control in the Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary. You won't find it. In my case, Mind Control was a system of influence used to change my beliefs and identity. The Church of Scientology exploited my need for approval, and my desperation to be loved. I allowed myself to be controlled through fear -- fear of being invalidated, dread of Ethics, and terror of losing my immortality through Irrevocable Ethics Orders and other assorted cockamamie bullshit. I had the felony compounded through massive doses of hypnosis -- both by my auditors, and to a lesser degree by Dr. Geertz. Don't think for a moment that reverie, boil off and anaten are not hypnosis, because they are. Even the TRs are a form of both hypnosis and Mind Control. The language of Scientology removed me further and further from my friends and family, which ultimately made me more susceptible to their system of influence, or thought reform.

Religion Inc.: the Church of Scientology

by Stewart Lamont

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/kaufman/isd/isd.htm

The story of Scientology reads like the plot of a bizarre and sensational movie. A science-fiction writer founds a religion, makes millions of dollars in the process and then becomes a recluse. His followers, who dress in naval-style uniforms, engage in a cops and robbers game with the FBI and the American Inland Revenue Service which leads to Watergate style burglaries and multi-million dollar lawsuits for and against the cult. Smear campaigns are conducted against its enemies and accusations of brain-washing are levelled against the church by psychiatrists. A breakaway movement leads to purges and the break-up of families and hundreds of members are declared 'Suppressive Persons'. Then a young lieutenant of the cult leader takes over amid accusations that he has forged the documents which give him power over the cult's millions.

The Road to Xenu

A narrative account of life in Scientology

by Margery Wakefield

[A fictionalised version of her experiences]

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/xenu.html

Coming to know the truth about Scientology was by no means the end of my problems. It has taken me ten years and hundreds of hours of counseling to come to terms with my experience in Scientology and to deal with the considerable anger I felt toward the man and the organization responsible for my exploitation and betrayal.

I still have nightmares about Scientology. The healing process continues. But I am free. And having been once deceived by a great master of deception, I know I can never be deceived in the same way again. I will never again cede away the deed to my mind, not to anyone, no matter how convincing they may be. My freedom has been purchased at a tremendous cost, and neither my freedom nor my mind will ever be for sale again.

Scientology With(out) an End

by Tom Voltz

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/joecisar/swoe00.htm

Forward

Scientology - and no end. The public debate lingers on. More and more people who have been recruited in the German-speaking countries have come to realize that the way to individual freedom is not found with Scientology, and that the declared claim of saving the world from destruction is absolutely not attained with the technology of L. Ron Hubbard and the Scientology system. These people leave Scientology.

This book differentiates itself in vital areas from other published works of earlier members of the organization.

Besides the very personal element of his path in the organization and the critical discussion of the ideology which had already begun during his membership and finally led to his departure, Tom Voltz succintly relates previously unknown material.

Tom Voltz gives us insight into the realm of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) and points out with unmistakeable clarity that the Scientology system is anti-democratic.

Testimony

The Autobiography of Margery Wakefield

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/testimony.html

The future lies ahead. In spite of many discouragements, I must go on. I will try to live as productive a life as possible.

However, I cannot delude myself. The years of nervous breakdowns have taken their toll. I will never realize the potential that I might have had without this illness.

I can only say that through everything that has happened, my faith has been strengthened. We are on this earth for such a short time. I have gotten used to death through my work in the hospital and in the nursing home. I have no illusions of immortality.

For whatever reason, God has seen fit to bring me through the terrible disease of schizophrenia. I spent twelve years in a satanic cult trying to find a cure for my illness. In the end, I have found that there is no cure. There is only palliative help in the form of the various medications that I must take each day.

Yet, I am lucky. For a schizophrenic whose father was once told that I would never live outside an institution, I have done fairly well.

The Cheryl S Story

http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/cheryl_s

The Shrine Auditorium exploded time and again with the roar of 5,000 sets of hands clapping wildly. The clean-cut, uniformed young man on stage stood there with a smirk on his face, waiting for the sound to die down. Another set of graphs appeared on the giant television screen above his head, depicting yet another set of statistics that were remarkably up over the prior year. The man, a top executive of a controversial Los Angeles church, spoke glowingly about the most recent in a long line of statistics on parade, which precipitated yet another outburst of clapping.

I had worked long enough as a staff member of this "church" to know that this many statistics being up this dramatically simply was not possible. And it was at that point that I realized that the members of the Church of Scientology were being victimized by their own church's public relations techniques. And that realization marked the beginning of the end of nearly 12 years of abuse for me.

The Hubbard is Bare

by Jeff Jacobsen

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/essays/jacobsen_intro.html

The reason I thought this was an exciting topic was Hubbard's insistence that he came up with his ideas by himself and that they were as monumental a breakthrough from what came before as was the discovery of fire to the cavemen. If it could be shown that dianetics was simply a synthesis of previous ideas, then Hubbard would be exposed as a huckster and fraud. And I don't like hucksters and frauds.

Generally speaking, it is my contention that Hubbard did no credible research of his own. Instead he distilled ideas from books he had read, the few college courses he took, his own experiences, and his very fertile and disturbed mind, and came up with a mish-mash of bizarre theories which he wrote down in scientific-sounding phrases and words.

The ideas Hubbard borrowed were generally bizarre ideas to begin with, and his fertile, twisted mind altered and embelished them to produce an even worse hodge-podge.

The Mind Benders, Scientology

by Cyril Vosper

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/vosper/index.html

The following chapters outline the main things that Scientologists believe and do. It is my personal interpretation of the curious world of Scientology, based upon my experiences during some fourteen years of very close contact. Very few people outside of Scientology know what goes on inside it and those inside it are the very last to speak frankly on their life. It is a strange world of insubstantialities, hopes and achievements, happiness and misery, of hero-worship and degradation, of intolerance and conceit. I think Scientology could herald a new form of mental and moral tyranny to a world already obsessed with a large number of enslavements. It could be the deadliest of all as it deals with the spirituality of the individual and when, in the past, religions have been intolerant, their pogroms have been bloody, sickeningly self-righteous and degrading to human self-respect.

The Road to Total Freedom

A sociological analysis of scientology

by Roy Wallis

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wallis/

This book is a sociological study of a new quasi-religious movement, Scientology. Its author, Roy Wallis, traces the emergence of this movement as a lay psychotherapy - "Dianetics" and its development into an authoritarian sect. Drawing on formulations in the sociology of religion, he analyses the processes involved and presents a theory to account for the transformation of cult into sect.

On the basis of over eighty interviews with members and former members, a typology of the motivations which led individuals to affiliate with the movements is derived, and the processes by which members become further committed to the movement are explored. The reasons which led a proportion of members to defect from the movement are also described.

The Scandal of Scientology

by Paulette Cooper

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/cooper/index.html

About the Author

Paulette Cooper launched her career as a freelance writer in 1968, after she completed an M.A. degree in psychology and a summer at Harvard studying comparative religion.

Her first book, The Scandal of Scientology came out three years later, and has been followed by eight others, along with hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. These she wrote, part-time, to support her full-time crusade to expose Scientology, at a time when few outsiders knew much about the cult, and those who did were generally afraid to speak out.

In 1982, the American Society of Journalists and Authors recognized the high personal price she paid to fight Scientology and awarded her the prestigious Conscience in Media Award -- one of four writing awards to her credit.

The Scientology Story

A six-part series in the Los Angeles Times, June 24-29, 1990

by Joel Sappell and Robert W. Welkos

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90.html

1. The Making of L. Ron Hubbard (Sunday, June 24)
- Chapter 1: The Mind Behind the Religion
- Chapter 2: Creating the Mystique
- Chapter 3: Life with L. Ron Hubbard
- Chapter 4: The Final Days
- Defining the Theology
- Burglaries and Lies Paved a Path to Prison
- The Man in Control
- Staking a Claim to Blood Brotherhood
- Church Scriptures Get High-Tech Protection

2. The Selling of a Church (Monday, June 25)
- Church Markets Its Gospel with High-Pressure Sales
- Shoring Up Its Religious Profile
- The Courting of Celebrities

3. Inside the Church (Tuesday, June 26)
- Defectors Recount Lives of Hard Work, Punishment

4. Reaching into Society (Wednesday, June 27)
- Church Seeks Influence in Schools, Business, Science
- Courting the Power Brokers
- The Org Board
- Foundation Funds Provide Assist to Celebrated Teacher Escalante

5. The Making of a Best-selling Author (Thursday, June 28)
- Costly Strategy Continues to Turn Out Bestsellers

6. Attack the Attacker (Friday, June 29)
- On the Offensive Against an Array of Suspected Foes
- Suits, Protests Fuel a Campaign Against Psychiatry
- A Lawyer Learns What It's Like to Fight the Church
- The Battle with the I.R.S.
- The Battle with the "Squirrels"

Understanding Scientology

by Margery Wakefield

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us.html

It has taken me ten years to be able to write this book. I knew all along that I had to write it. If you explore a strange country, and you find it to be a very dangerous place, and you happen to be one of the few to return from that country alive, it become a moral necessity to warn others of the danger.

As trite as it may sound, if I can prevent even one other person, especially a young person, from having to live through the nightmare of Scientology -- then I will feel satisfied.