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Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. And ex-members use the Internet to share stories of harassment and abuse.
Now Janet Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an even-handed account that at last establishes the astonishing 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 worldwide spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and even ex-followers.
Based on five years of research, unprecedented access to church officials, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the defining book about a little-known world.
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Editorial reviews
Janet Reitman's Inside Scientology seeks to provide the first unbiased and holistic overview of the divisive faith that is Scientology. Reitman focuses on five key elements of the Scientology story: a history of the religion's rise, as well as the rise of its creator, L. Ron Hubbard; a detailed account of the vicious internal coup by current leader, David Miscavige; the sad and shocking story of the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson; an outline of the controversial "celebrity strategy"; and multiple narratives detailing the current mass exodus from a corrupt and abusive church.
Narrator Stephen Hoye does an excellent job with the book, which presents many unique challenges. He successfully tackles a wide range of subject matter from Hubbard's sterile, futurist terminology to some of the more personal, emotionally gripping stories. Hoye serves as a calm voice of reason, guiding us through a potentially confusing world of Orgs, Tech, and more acroynms than a high-level business meeting.
The picture that emerges is a multifaceted one. Outsiders with cursory knowledge of the faith generally associate it with a crackpot Sci-Fi writer looking to make a buck, brainwashing techniques, salacious scandals, never-ending lawsuits, and a creation myth featuring aliens, volcanoes, and movie theaters. While Reitman doesn't exactly dispel these notions completely, she does provide rich historical background and a true look inside this mysterious faith. The truth about the religion, after all, is much more complex than what's presented on the surface.
The promises of Scientology range from the enriching (freedom from mental and emotion anguish) to the humanitarian (providing aid to developing countries and ways out of drug addiction) to the transcendent (immortal life, free of an earthy body). While people are drawn to the faith for all kinds of reasons, Reitman shows us that most Scientologists are just normal people trying to do good in the world and better themselves. Unfortunately, some of these people have been swept up in a devastating new movement within the upper ranks of the church, which has become increasingly obsessed with greed, domination, and power.
Perhaps the most artful facet of this book is that, in true journalistic style, Reitman does her best to simply present the facts and leave the conclusions to the listener. After all, like Hubbard used to say, "What's true is what is true for you." Gina Pensiero
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Story
Opinionated talk show host and columnist Michael Smerconish has been chronicling local, state, and national events for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 15 years. He has sounded off on topics as diverse as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and what the color of your Christmas lights says about you. In this collection of 100 of his most memorable columns, Smerconish reflects on American political life with his characteristic feistiness.
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All about Smerc and who cares about the victims
- By Mark J. Rosen on 12-10-20
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The King of Content
- Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire
- By: Keach Hagey
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Sumner Murray Redstone, once feared as the “mad genius” of media who would dump his CEOs for mere wobbles in his companies’ stock price, had built one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers constructed to ensure that he always maintained control. Today he controls 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, meaning that on a whim he could replace the entire boards of two public companies with a combined value of $40 billion.
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Feels biased. Well researched, but not engaging.
- By Anonymous User on 04-03-19
By: Keach Hagey
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The Bettencourt Affair
- The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris
- By: Tom Sancton
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Heiress to the nearly 40-billion-dollar L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the world’s richest woman and the 14th wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At 94, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? It’s a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic city - and involving the most glamorous industry - in the world.
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A Juicy Chronicle
- By Jean on 10-24-17
By: Tom Sancton
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Raven
- The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People
- By: Tim Reiterman
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award-winning work explores the ideals gone wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America.
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What a very thoroughly written book!
- By Traci P. on 04-22-17
By: Tim Reiterman
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Age of Ambition
- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
- By: Evan Osnos
- Narrated by: Evan Osnos, George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.
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Come back when you have a warrant!
- By Neuron on 11-06-15
By: Evan Osnos
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Out of Mao's Shadow
- The Struggle for the Soul of a New China
- By: Philip P. Pan
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Prize-winning journalist Philip P. Pan offers an unprecedented inside look at the momentous battle underway for China's future. On one side is the entrenched party elite determined to preserve its authoritarian grip on power. On the other is a collection of lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs, activists, hustlers, and dreamers striving to build a more tolerant, open, and democratic China.
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Great insight into changes in China
- By Paul on 04-14-09
By: Philip P. Pan
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The Crusades of Cesar Chavez
- A Biography
- By: Miriam Pawel
- Narrated by: Jackson Gutierrez
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first comprehensive biography of Chavez, Miriam Pawel offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal. Chavez emerges here as a visionary figure with tragic flaws; a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled; and a canny, streetwise organizer whose pragmatism was often at odds with his elusive, soaring dreams.
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Cesar Chávez
- By Ed on 09-10-18
By: Miriam Pawel
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The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
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A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
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Missing Man
- The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.
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Important story
- By Richard F. Callahan on 08-03-16
By: Barry Meier
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Dreamers and Deceivers
- True and Untold Stories of the Heroes and Villains Who Made America
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The new nonfiction from number-one best-selling author and popular radio and television host Glenn Beck.
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Astounding History stories gather life
- By Gil on 11-13-14
By: Glenn Beck
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A Woman in Charge
- The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
- By: Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Dick Rodstein
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Carl Bernstein's stunning portrait of Hillary Rodham Clinton shows us, as nothing else has, the true trajectory of her life and career, with its zigzag bursts of risks taken and safety sought. Marshaling all the skills and energy that propelled his history-making Pulitzer Prize reporting on Watergate, Bernstein gives us the most detailed, sophisticated, comprehensive, and revealing account of Hilary Rodham Clinton yet.
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in depth and well-written
- By Katherine on 07-20-07
By: Carl Bernstein
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How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune
- The Billionaire Who Wasn't
- By: Conor O'Clery
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In 1988 Forbes magazine hailed Chuck Feeney as the 23rd richest American alive. No one knew until then that he was extremely wealthy. Or was he? Born during the Depression in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Feeney had made a fortune as co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers, the world's largest duty-free retail chain. How he did it is one of the great untold retail stories of modern times. The greater untold story is that Feeney had in fact given away his fortune, in its totality, to endow Atlantic Philanthropies - one of the most generous and secretive philanthropic funds in the world.
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Horizons I never knew were there!
- By DTU_Garza on 08-13-17
By: Conor O'Clery
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The Fifties
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the 10 years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon; but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; and more.
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one of the very best
- By Chester Chellman on 09-25-18
By: David Halberstam
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The Invitation-Only Zone
- The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project
- By: Robert S. Boynton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout the late 1970s and early '80s, dozens of Japanese citizens were abducted from coastal Japanese towns by North Korean commandos. In what proved to be part of a global project, North Korea attempted to reeducate the abductees and train them to spy on the state's behalf. When the project faltered, the abductees were hidden in a series of guarded communities known as "Invitation-Only Zones" - the fiction being that these were exclusive enclaves, not prisons.
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Over enthusiastic reader!
- By AJW on 02-14-16
What listeners say about Inside Scientology
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mark A Rosen
- 02-29-12
A cautionary tale for the uninitiated
What did you love best about Inside Scientology?
I've always been somewhat wary of Scientology ever since meeting a few of them in my college days. The book is very good about giving a history of the organization and it's founder L.Ron Hubbard, a singularly greedy megalomanical individual.
Who was your favorite character and why?
For me there were no likeable characters. They all seemed very damaged and harmed by Dianetics/ Scientology. Although I'm very sympathetic towards their stories, I can't help but feel that their continuing desire to clear the planet which is a tenet of their belief is so misguided.
Which scene was your favorite?
There were multiple vignettes that painted a very colorful picture of the organization. I could almost feel the frustration and pain of the musical chairs incident that was organized by David Miscavige, another thoroughly loathsome individual.
If you could give Inside Scientology a new subtitle, what would it be?
Scientology : A Cautionary Tale, be advised.
Any additional comments?
There was an apocryphal story told about L.Ron Hubbard, where he stated that a man could become extremely wealthy if he started his own religion. Hubbard began a self help movement which was in reality a cult of personality from the base of his science fiction writing. Hubbard is American as any snake oil salesman, as much a fabric of the American subculture as was Aimee McPherson, Joseph Smith and a whole cadre of founders of other looney religious movements.
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2 people found this helpful
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- hlew
- 03-15-12
Good audible book
What did you love best about Inside Scientology?
I found this an interesting book and interesting to get the Hubbard background.
What other book might you compare Inside Scientology to and why?
Under the banner of god, I think is the name of the book I would compare this to.
What about Stephen Hoye’s performance did you like?
I did like his reading.
If you could give Inside Scientology a new subtitle, what would it be?
What are you getting into exactly?
Any additional comments?
I was unsure about this but I am glad to have listened.
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2 people found this helpful
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- nightowl
- 03-02-18
Interesting but too much repetition
From chapter to chapter some parts of the history are repeated verbatim 2 or 3 chapters in ha row. It was so bad I double checked to see if I had restarted a chapter. I could understand the repetition several chapters later, but back-to-back it comes across as poor editing.
Overall an interesting account of the complicated evolution of an unusual organization.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tiffany’s List
- 07-26-12
Good story but, not a great reading
Would you try another book from Janet Reitman and/or Stephen Hoye?
Maybe, I thought the story was really compelling but the reading/reader was hard to listen to
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- Jamestown Bill
- 01-09-15
Interesting book
I was curious about the church. The book covers mostly the history and scandal surrounding Scientology. I found it interesting.
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- Honey Badger
- 08-04-12
Tedious.
Would you try another book from Janet Reitman and/or Stephen Hoye?
Yes.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
1. So what?2. People are dumb.3. I wouldn't insult sheep by saying, people are sheep.4. At least it's over.5. I already knew they were nuts, now I know just HOW nuts.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
I love Hoye's voice, but he, and certainly the producers of this audiobook, should check the pronunciations of expressions of foreign origins. The BEST part of this otherwise pretty boring book is Hoye's pronunciation of "ne plus ultra." Knee plus ultra = a good laugh.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No.
Any additional comments?
This book is interesting but the subject matter is not worthy of the detail it is given and, consequently, it's kinda' boring. The book also repeats the same facts or ideas frequently. It needs editing. Hoye has got a great voice.
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- TemperPolk
- 02-02-16
Scientology explained
Wow! I was very impressed with this book. It gives you a real look inside one of the most mysterious religions movements. I always thought Scientology was a weird religion but never knew exactly what it was about. This book really lays out the movement foundations and its current state.
The narrator was great. Never a dull moment.
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- Bob
- 08-31-13
Excellent book about a dangerous Cult
It is amazing that even the IRS is afraid of this organization which is clearly a for profit business and not a religion. This is as much of a cult as the one that Jim Jones ran. This book tells it all.
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- Christy Lynn
- 07-31-22
A comprehensive look at Scientology
I’ve read a lot of books about Scientology but I believe this is the most comprehensive book on the topic that I have ever read. I wish author would do an updated version since so much has happened since the books publication, namely Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath and Marty Rathbun’s seemingly deal with the devil to stop speaking out about Scientology. But even though the book is a little bit dated, it is excellent.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-09-24
Highly informative
Great reporting, storytelling and delivery. This was a revelation. A cult formed by a chaletan, run by a brutal childish dictator and you have this so-called religion. I really hope these lost people who feel money supercedes logic can someday understand the lie they are being told but I doubt it will ever happen. Great book. Reads like a detective story unearthing all that the public needs to know.
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