Scientology Lit | The Underground Bunker

Behind enemy li(n)es: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s secret mission that never was

[The USS Edsall, sunk in 1942]

For our ‘Scientology Lit’ series this week, we’re posting another excerpt from Chris Owen’s monumental updated ‘Ron the War Hero,’ which was released a couple of weeks ago. We asked, and Chris generously agreed to give us another peek inside this very important […]

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard on family and sex: As enlightened as you’d imagine

[Hubbard in 1950]

Earlier this week, Sunny Pereira mentioned that Brad Pitt took a Scientology course that would have involved reading part of L. Ron Hubbard’s 1951 follow up to Dianetics, the ponderous tome Science of Survival. So for our ‘Scientology Lit’ feature this week, we thought we’d introduce you to that delightful volume of Hubbard […]

Bull baiting and so much worse: Margery Wakefield on surviving Scientology

It’s great to hear from Margery Wakefield again. After some time away from the fray, Margery is back with another book about Scientology, and this one is very personal. For our ‘Scientology Lit’ series, she pulled a gritty chapter out of her new book, I Survived!: Overcoming Abuse, Scientology and Life in General, which went […]

Scientology and evolution: The otherwordly experience of reading ‘A History of Man’

This week in ‘Scientology Lit’ we’re looking at perhaps our favorite book by L. Ron Hubbard himself, the infamous ‘A History of Man’ of 1952. By that year, Hubbard had committed to the idea that Scientology, grown from the ashes of Dianetics, would pursue the idea of past-life therapy. This book was intended to give […]

Paulette Cooper’s ‘Scandal of Scientology’: The book that made Miss Lovely a target

This week we’re looking back at ‘The Scandal of Scientology,’ a book that drove L. Ron Hubbard to distraction. It was written by a New York magazine writer named Paulette Cooper, who was only 28 when it came out on June 1, 1971. Even before its publication, Paulette became an obsession with Hubbard as he […]

Carol Es on 20 years in Scientology: ‘You’re programmed to think emotions are weak’

[Carol Es]

This week on Scientology Lit, we have an excerpt from Shrapnel in the San Fernando Valley, a memoir by Los Angeles contemporary artist Carol Es which will be coming out on April 6. The book wrestles with Carol’s experiences growing up in a dysfunctional family in LA’s San Fernando Valley, abuse by men who […]

William Burroughs at Scientology’s ‘Saint Hill Manor’ in 1968, before his discontent

[William Burroughs in 1968]

In 2013, we interviewed author David Wills about his book on William Burroughs, Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the ‘weird cult’. He argued that Burroughs biographers tended to play down (or merely not understand) how deeply into Scientology Burroughs had been before famously falling away from it in scathing testimonials. We thought […]

Leah Remini pays for vexing Tom Cruise with Scientology’s ‘Truth Rundown’

[Leah Remini in 2006]

What a treat we have for you in this week’s Scientology Lit book excerpt. It’s from Leah Remini’s 2015 memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. The excerpt takes place in 2006, right after Leah had returned from the lavish Italian wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes when Leah had caused a […]

Thinking of leaving Scientology? Jefferson Hawkins has your roadmap.

Former Scientology executive Jefferson Hawkins penned one of the best first-person accounts of the Scientology experience in his book ‘Counterfeit Dreams.’ But we don’t want people to forget that he also provided a major service by writing a book aimed directly at other Scientologists who might have doubts about the organization. Today, we have an […]

Lucas Catton: ‘Narconon and the Church of Scientology are committing fraud daily’

[Lucas Catton]

In 2013, Lucas Catton self-published ‘Have You Told All,’ a remarkable book about his experience as the president of Scientology’s flagship drug rehab center, Narconon Arrowhead. He also appeared in an episode of the former investigative news program Rock Center, and he showed up here at the Bunker in several stories. Since then, he […]

Search