"Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief" (Alfred A. Knopf), by Lawrence Wright

Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright's new book about Scientology, its origins, its evolution and its believers, is a powerful piece of reportage. It is detailed, intense and at times shocking. But it's not merely an indictment of one of the world's newest faiths — Scientologists deny many parts of the book — it's also a reminder of the dangers of combining faith with fear, and the foolishness of choosing to believe anything blindly.

"Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief" traces Scientology's history through a variety of characters, the most important being L. Ron Hubbard, the seafaring world explorer and prolific science fiction writer who founded the religion. Also explored in depth are the present leader of the church, David Miscavige, who is described as a violent autocrat; Tom Cruise, the religion's most famous adherent and prime example of Scientology's fixation on Hollywood; and Paul Haggis, the filmmaker who has become a very prominent ex-Scientologist.