Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief is a clear-sighted revelation and a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Lawrence Wright.

Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists—both famous and less well-known—and years of archival research, Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover the inner workings of the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate religion; its vast, secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard.

At the book's center are two men whom Wright brings vividly to life: the darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard—whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era—and his successor, David Miscavige—tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults.

We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; the Bridge to Total Freedom, through which members gain eternal life. Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS.

Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate exposé and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.