Sell the house. Sell the car. Sell the kids. As your cult leader we demand total obedience, and that means you will be shelling out the big bucks one week from today for the audiobook edition of The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper.
Or, if you aren’t already a member, join Audible.com and get the book for free!
Yes, we recently took time out of our cult-leading duties to spend three days in a 7th Avenue studio reading our own book into a microphone so you could hear us tell the spellbinding tale of Paulette Cooper’s incredible ordeal at the hands of Scientology’s spies. Just think of the result: you, your dear leader, his mellifluous voice, and Paulette’s saga, all together in your noise-cancelling headphones for ten hours!
The book is already on pre-order at Audible’s US and UK websites [CLICK HERE, AMERICA][CLICK HERE, BRITANNIA], and there you can check out how easy it is to get the book for free by joining and getting access to Audible’s many other great titles.
And what’s in store for your ears if you take this plunge? Well, we’re already cringing from all this self-promotion, so we’ll turn it over to Nathan Rabin of the A.V. Club, who had this to say about our book…
Before Tony Ortega’s The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, Cooper’s story had never been told in full. It is one of the most remarkable and unlikely narratives in the sprawling field of Scientology exposés. Ortega’s specialty is his ability to contextualize Cooper’s soap-opera life within the raging currents of history. Cooper embodied her times: She was a child of World War II and the Holocaust, an orphan of one of the 20th century’s greatest tragedies who grew up to be the epitome of the chic New York career woman…Scientology’s persecution of Cooper comes to feel like a strange echo of the Watergate controversy riveting the nation at the same time. People who profess to be the victims of sinister, far-reaching conspiracies are often seen as crazy, but Cooper genuinely was the victim of a sinister, far-reaching conspiracy…In the kind of twist that fills The Unbreakable Miss Lovely and makes it such a compulsively readable page-turner, Cooper discovers too late that, like far too many people in her life, [L. Ron] Hubbard Jr. (or “Nibs” as he was known) was not what he appeared to be, and was probably a double agent working against Cooper on Scientology’s behalf…Cooper should have been destroyed by Scientology. But she proved astonishingly brave and bold. The book’s title proves appropriate both because Cooper is model gorgeous but also unbreakable, with a spirit strong enough to stand up to an entire organization out to destroy her and everything she stands for. In that respect, the book is oddly inspiring.
Those of you who have had a chance to meet Paulette will certainly agree with that last part. She is a singular woman, and a true inspiration. We think you’ll be stunned to learn what she survived as the Church of Scientology’s Guardian’s Office targeted her for destruction and ran elaborate operations against her from 1969 to 1985 because she dared to be among the first journalists to expose L. Ron Hubbard and his organization. The church was even keeping tabs on her at least through 2010, something she didn’t realize until we started working on this project with her.
There are so many startling revelations about Paulette and the times she lived in. We hope you enjoy hearing this tale as much as we did researching and writing it.
Pick up your copy on September 29!
——————–
Join Freedom, travel the world, meet interesting people, and smear them
Hey, Scientology is hiring! Although the ad at JournalismJobs.com is pretty well camouflaged, one of our fellow reporter friends saw through it and tipped us off about it. Take a look at the language and you’ll see what we mean: David Miscavige is paying top dollar to fill his Freedom magazine offices at the new Scientology Media Productions studio in Los Angeles:
We are an international publisher. We have established magazines and online distribution; we are ramping up broadcasting and additonal [sic] online dimensions of our news products. We are based in California, and have offices elsewhere in the United States and Europe, and will be opening new offices across the globe. We have a religious aspect to what we do, and a definite point of view. You adjust to us, not the other way around. We uncover government and corporate corruption, investigate and explain major social issues. We love to expose bigotry, and racial, religious and ethnic hatred.
We pay very well, but we aren’t looking for journalistic mercenaries. What we do seek are top-line investigative journalists and long-form journalism stylists who can produce content worthy of the best magazines. As we add to our online work, and as we develop major news broadcasting endeavors, we want content creators and managers who are versatile at multiple platforms.
Heh. “You adjust to us, not the other way around.”
Whatever you say, C.O.B., sir!
——————–
Chris Shelton on ‘Scientology’
——————–
Bonus items from our tipsters
Actual caption: “Welcome to staff Angelina Gill!! She just joined Tampa Foundation and is pumped to help the org expand to Double Saint Hill Size!!”
Going Clear!
Wear your soul duds, but leave that blunt at home!
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on September 22, 2016 at 07:00
E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
