Beyond Belief My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape

Author : Jenna Miscavige Hill
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062248499
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Beyond Belief written by Jenna Miscavige Hill and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org—the church's highest ministry, speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape. Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader—David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line. Addressing some of the Church's most notorious practices in startling detail, she also describes a childhood of isolation and neglect—a childhood that, painful as it was, prepared her for a tough life in the Church's most devoted order, the Sea Org. Despite this hardship, it is only when her family approaches dissolution and her world begins to unravel that she is finally able to see the patterns of stifling conformity and psychological control that have ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she mounts a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.

Author : Marc Headley
Publisher : BFG Books Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0982502222
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Blown for Good written by Marc Headley and published by BFG Books Inc.. This book was released on 2010-03-31 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marc Headley started working for the Scientology organization in 1989. After leaving in 2005, Marc posted bits and pieces of what went on at the Scientology headquarters (known from inside as the International Base). Marc posted anonymously under the screen name of Blownforgood aka BFG. In September 2008 Marc was invited to speak to an international conference of European government representatives regarding the Scientology organization and their abuses. It was at this time that Marc revealed his identity as Blownforgood. By 2009, the internet posts Marc had written over the years had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, but still there were people who questioned their validity. Stories of grown men being thrown into dirty lakes and pools as punishment? Physical abuse never reported to authorities? How could this happen in modern day America? Two years after Marc wrote about these things and posted them on the internet, a Pulitzer Prize winning U.S. newspaper printed accounts from former staff member who worked at the Int Base that matched and confirmed what Marc had written about. Not only that, Scientology officials admitted that these things had taken place! Find out what they did not talk about in Blown for Good.

Author : Lawrence Wright
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0385350279
Total Pages : 359 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Going Clear written by Lawrence Wright and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes “an utterly necessary story” (The Wall Street Journal) that pulls back the curtain on the church of Scientology: one of the most secretive organizations at work today. • The Basis for the HBO Documentary. Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.

Author : Michelle LeClair
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101991178
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Perfectly Clear written by Michelle LeClair and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revelatory memoir by former "poster girl for Scientology" Michelle LeClair about her defection from the Church, her newly accepted sexual identity, and the lengths to which Scientology went to silence it. For years, Michelle LeClair, former President of Scientology's international humanitarian organization, tried to reconcile her sexual orientation with the anti-gay ideology of the church. Michelle finally ends her horrific marriage, finds the love of her life, a woman, and ultimately leaves the Church. But the split comes at a terrible price. Her once pristine reputation is publicly dragged through the mud, the police raid her home, her ex-husband tries to gain full custody of their children, and the multi-million dollar business she built from scratch is utterly destroyed. In this tell-all memoir, Michelle offers an insider's perspective on Scientology's pervasive influence, secret rituals, and ruthless practices for keeping members in line. It's a story of self-acceptance, of finding the strength and courage to stand up for your emotional freedom, and of love prevailing.

Author : Ron Miscavige
Publisher : St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN 13 : 9781250131539
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Ruthless written by Ron Miscavige and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Now a #1 New York Times bestseller* "Compulsively readable..." —LA Weekly “Excoriating memoir" —Publisher's Weekly “A sad and painful but bravely told story.” —Kirkus Reviews The only book to examine the origins of Scientology's current leader, RUTHLESS tells the revealing story of David Miscavige's childhood and his path to the head seat of the Church of Scientology told through the eyes of his father. Ron Miscavige's personal, heartfelt story is a riveting insider's look at life within the world of Scientology. Not for sale outside the U.S.

Author : Janet Reitman
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0547549237
Total Pages : 469 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Inside Scientology written by Janet Reitman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2011-06-13 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on five years of research, access to confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, Janet Reitman sheds some long-awaited light on the ever-elusive religion of the Church of Scientology. Scientology, created in 1954 by pulp science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world’s fastest growing religion, with millions of members and huge financial holdings. Celebrity believers keep its profile high. Teams of volunteer ministers offer aid at disaster sites like Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a very closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating high levels of the government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. Ex-members use the internet to share stories of harassment and abuse. Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology in an even-handed account that establishes the 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 global spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and ex-followers. This is a defining book about a little-known world.

Author : Jefferson Hawkins
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780615375649
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Counterfeit Dreams written by Jefferson Hawkins and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jefferson Hawkins spent thirty years selling Scientology as one of their top marketing executives. The the Orwellian dark side of the Church threatened to destroy everything he had. A rare look at what goes on behind the glittering facade of today's most controversial cult.

Author : Karen Schless Pressley
Publisher : Bayshore Publications
ISBN 13 : 9780999088128
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Escaping Scientology written by Karen Schless Pressley and published by Bayshore Publications. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artists Peter and Karen Schless were seduced by Scientology's celebrity spirituality, and detoured from Hollywood careers to join its extremist group, the Sea Org. In leader David Miscavige's inner sanctum, they built their mental prison as they melded into its radicalized lifestyle where danger, captivity and abuse were normalized. After three escapes, Karen chose between two unbearable options.

Author : Tony Ortega
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781511639378
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Unbreakable Miss Lovely written by Tony Ortega and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life, and drove her to the brink of suicide.The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, published by Silvertail Books. It reveals the shocking details of the darkest chapter in Scientology's checkered history, which ended with senior members in prison, and the organization's reputation permanently damaged.'A thrilling account of a reporter's duel with a controversial church' - Kirkus Reviews'A brilliant exposition of how a child who escaped the Nazis grew up to be hunted by the Church of Scientology' - John Sweeney'A page-turner packed with barely believable facts. The details are worthy of John le Carre' - Jon Atackwww.theunbreakablemisslovely.com

Author : Lauren Drain
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1455512435
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Banished written by Lauren Drain and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banished is an eye-opening, deeply personal account of life inside the cult known as the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and became a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved. Banished is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.