Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its activities have long been shrouded in mystery and controversy. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright – armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists – uncovers the inner workings of the church.

We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer turned prophet, and his tough, driven successor David Miscavige. We learn about the church’s specialised cosmology and language, its legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labour under billion-year contracts.

Through it all, Wright asks what makes a religion, and whether Scientology in fact merits this constitutionally protected label. Now an award-winning HBO documentary film, Going Clear pulls back the curtain on one of the most secretive organisations at work today.