Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists, both famous and less well known, and years of archival research, the author uses his investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate (and legally acknowledged) religion; its vast, secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; its vindictive treatment of critics; its phenomenal wealth; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard. At the book's center are two men. The author shows how they have made Scientology what it is today. One is Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era. The other, his successor David Miscavige, tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the Church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults. In this book the author examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the United States' Internal Revenue Service. Here the author uncovers what makes Scientology the institution it is.