Scientology Lit | The Underground Bunker

Church of Fear: When John Sweeney sat down with Anne Archer and Leah Remini

This week in our ‘Scientology Lit’ series, we have an excerpt from BBC reporter John Sweeney’s 2013 book, Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology. Sweeney wrote about his experiences making two BBC documentaries about the church, 2007’s “Scientology and Me,” and 2010’s “The Secrets of Scientology.” In this chapter, he’s being handled […]

Ron Miscavige: ‘When I look back, it reminds me of stories I heard of the Stasi in East Germany’

[Ron Miscavige and Becky Bigelow]

We have another treat for you in our ‘Scientology Lit’ series. Ron Miscavige has generously allowed us to post an entire chapter from his book Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, which he wrote with Dan Koon. Ron sent us the key chapter when he and his wife, Becky […]

Scientology in Europe: ‘A scapegoat always had to be found when something went wrong’

We have a real treat this week in our ongoing ‘Scientology Lit’ series. It’s a full chapter from Robert Dam’s book The Defector: After 20 years in Scientology. Robert gives us a look inside Scientology’s operation in Copenhagen, its headquarters in Europe, where he spent some of his 20 years in Scientology before leaving the […]

From Sands Hall’s excellent ‘Flunk. Start.’ — the paradox of ‘Keeping Scientology Working’

Our Saturday ‘Scientology Lit’ series continues with a glimpse of Sands Hall’s richly penned memoir, Flunk. Start.: Reclaiming My Lost Decade in Scientology. Sands, a veteran musician and writing instructor, may not have been a Sea Org member or high-ranking Scientology executive, but we found her book to be one of the best for explaining […]

Scientology fundraiser: ‘It was commonplace to lie to church members to get donations’

[Kay Rowe]

Continuing with our Saturday series of book excerpts, we’re happy to give you a substantial look at Kay Rowe’s book Over the Edge: A Pawn in the Scientology Money Machine, which came out last year. She is giving us a look at the world of asking other Scientologists for money, which is a neverending […]

Scientology’s messiah? ‘Hubbard believed he was as great as Jesus, Buddha, & Mohammed’

This week in our series from books about Scientology, we have an excerpt from Nancy Many’s fascinating 2009 testament, My Billion-Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist. Nancy is the only former church member who has written about the “messianic project” of the late 1970s, and we’re glad she gave us this section to show […]

Scientology scam: ‘It hadn’t occurred to me I was getting appalling advice from Church execs’

This week in our series of excerpts from books about Scientology, we have an excerpt from the newest addition to the pile, Chris Shugart’s Fractured Journey: A Personal Account of 30 Outrageous Years in the Church of Scientology. We specifically asked for this portion of the book, which practically drove us nuts when we read […]

Scientology and celebs: ‘Miscavige had several of us catering to Tom Cruise behind the scenes’

We have another entry in our ongoing series of book excerpts about Scientology, this time some startling material about the church’s obsession with celebrities which appears in Amy Scobee’s book Scientology — Abuse at the Top. Amy was one of several high-ranking executives who came out of Scientology in the 2000s and changed the way […]

The trauma of leaving Scientology: ‘Who wants to believe they’ve thrown away their best years?’

This week in our series of book excerpts, Chris Shelton has been good enough to share with us a key section from his book Scientology: A to Xenu — An Insider’s Guide to What Scientology is All About. And if you like this, we hope you can join Chris at HowdyCon in Chicago later this […]

When Scientology keeps a mother from her child in the ER: Lori Hodgson’s story

We’re continuing our series with another book excerpt, this time a wrenching anecdote from Lori Hodgson’s recently published memoir, A Mother’s Heartbreak: How Scientology Destroyed My Family. Lori’s story is pretty familiar to our readers, but if you’re new, what you need to know before reading this chapter excerpt is that Lori’s children, Jessica and […]

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