Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), by Janet Reitman

Whether Scientology is considered a cult, a confidence racket, a religion or a self-help movement, the organization has reached a crossroads. As Rolling Stone editor Janet Reitman reports, the problems run deeper than Tom Cruise's public meltdown and the secretive organization's obsession with celebrity. The Internet has enabled disgruntled ex-members and critics to freely attack and expose the covert theories and methods of Scientology, which in the past had silenced its opponents (including the mighty IRS) through expensive lawsuits. Reitman approaches her subject with fairness, but can't help but uncover the pulp fiction self-mythologizing of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the organization's “fundamentally narcissistic philosophy.” (David Luhrssen)