Hey, it's Kim Masters, host of the business at KCRW. We're going to start the podcast in just a few seconds, but first, I want to ask you for your support.

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Thanks so much, and here's the show.

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

Gloria Swanson came in to the church for a while. Rock Hudson walked in for a bit.

There was always on the horizon the idea that one of these great stars

would become a member of the Church of Scientology,

and that would allow the church to take over the entire movie entertainment industry.

This week on the business, we revisit our conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright.

His book, Going Clear, Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief,

was nominated for a National Book Award and is now out in paperback.

Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

In 2011, author Lawrence Wright fascinated readers of the New Yorker with a substantial profile of filmmaker Paul Haggis. He won the Oscar for writing and directing Crash.

Haggis had spent some 35 years as a Scientologist, but in Wright's article,

he announced himself as one of the church's most high-profile critics. That transformation

inspired Wright's new book, Going Clear, Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.

We should say at the outset that the church has publicly denounced Lawrence Wright's

book and sent a statement to KCRW to that effect. You can read the letter at kCRW.com

slash the business. But Wright stands by his reporting, which was based in part on interviews with

former Scientologists, some of whom were once high up in the hierarchy of the church.

Scientology denounces such critics as apostates and liars.

...