Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-15% $15.29$15.29
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$7.37$7.37
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: -OnTimeBooks-
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Follow the authors
OK
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Paperback – Illustrated, September 17, 2013
Purchase options and add-ons
Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org—the church's highest ministry, speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape.
In this tell-all memoir, complete with family photographs from her time in the Church, Jenna Miscavige Hill, a prominent critic of Scientology who now helps others leave the organization, offers an insider's profile of the beliefs, rituals, and secrets of the religion that has captured the fascination of millions, including some of Hollywood's brightest stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
- Print length416 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow Paperbacks
- Publication dateSeptember 17, 2013
- Dimensions6 x 1.06 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100062248480
- ISBN-13978-0062248480
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Get to know this book
What's it about?
A woman's memoir of her life in the Church of Scientology, her experiences as a member of the Sea Org, and her eventual escape from the organization.Popular highlight
The last thing you want to tell a person who is brainwashed is that they are brainwashed.766 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Self-policing inside the group made it difficult for anyone to trust anyone else.668 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Questioning attitudes and nonconforming behavior was kept in check through threats, punishments, and humiliations in front of the group.549 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
Jenna Miscavige Hill was raised to obey. As the niece of the Church of Scientology's leader David Miscavige, she grew up at the center of this highly controversial and powerful organization. But at twenty-one Jenna made a daring break from Scientology. Now she speaks out about her life, the Church, and her dramatic escape, piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded this world.
Jenna reveals unprecedented insider knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a child to her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture.
Yet it is only when her family approaches dissolution that she is finally able to see the psychological control that has ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she details how she made a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.
About the Author
Jenna Miscavige Hill was raised as a Scientologist. Since leaving the organization in 2005, she cofounded the website www.exscientologykids.com, which features the stories of current and former Scientologists and supports those who choose to leave the organization. She lives in Southern California.
Lisa Pulitzer is a former correspondent for the New York Times andcoauthor of more than a dozen nonfiction titles, including the New York Times bestsellers Stolen Innocence, Imperfect Justice, and Mob Daughter.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks; Illustrated edition (September 17, 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062248480
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062248480
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.06 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #56,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Scientology
- #243 in Religious Leader Biographies
- #2,059 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Lisa Pulitzer is a former correspondent for the New York Times andcoauthor of more than a dozen nonfiction titles, including the New York Times bestsellers Stolen Innocence, Imperfect Justice, and Mob Daughter.
I live in San Diego with my small family including my husband, my two amazing kiddos and a very mischievous Boston Terrier! I have a passion for life's simple pleasures such as mothering, baking, book-worming, beach camping, thrifting, gardening (more like attempted gardening) and the satisfaction that comes with creating something with my own two hands.
If you know me personally, you will know that I had a rough start in life. I was born into Scientology and escaped when I was 21. Writing my memoir was a therapeutic and life changing experience. It was published in 2013 and you can find it here on Amazon.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Story
Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of David Miscavige, was born February 1, 1984, and became a member of the third generation of a family of Scientologists. When she was four her parents gave up their lives as "public Scientologists" and traveled to Los Angeles to join the Sea Org. Since her parents were upper-echelon members of the church, Jenna was raised at the Ranch, a facility where the children of high-ranking Scientologists live. As you can imagine, Jenna did not see her parents often, but as she had no outside experience, this was not odd to her. Nor was signing a Billion-Year Contract to join the Sea Org herself at the young age of 6 viewed as odd. In her own words, she wanted to make her parents proud.
What follows is the story of a woman who saw the inner machinations of the church. Her parents arrived in LA shortly before L. Ron Hubbard died, and while young, she witnessed the rise of her Uncle Dave as the leader of the Church of Scientology. Jenna describes the rigid lifestyle of Sea Org members, detailing the grueling work schedules and harsh punishments for mistakes.
Ultimately Jenna comes to see Scientology as many others do: a cult that has the power to destroy lives. This eventually leads to Jenna fleeing from Scientology, dodging security guards who would forcibly return her to the base, and making the brave decision to publish a tell-all memoir. It should be noted that in the beginning of the book Jenna specifically points out that there are many aliases used for people within her book; she even takes the unusual step of listing which names are aliases. While nice, I never really found myself cross-checking that list against the name of a new person introduced in the text.
Should I Buy It?
This book is very well-written and done in a style as to be engaging and very informative. Jenna's writing style is descriptive and to-the-point, without beleaguering the reader with long-winded explanations. She also takes the time to explain various aspects of Scientology so that the lay person would understand: Scientology is a very insular "religion" with its own terminology for many aspects of its faith. Nearly every building or personnel title is abbreviated by initials, and Jenna takes the time to explain what each one means so that the reader will not be confused. Her writing is very intelligent and witty, dotted with personal reflections of the situations that she relates. So calm is her delivery that you are amazed, even as she tells stories of cruel punishments and abuses in the higher levels of the church.
While there are many books from defectors of Scientology, this one ranks as special due to the simple fact that this was written by a close blood relative of "COB, RTC", David Miscavige. It is one thing for a high-ranking member to defect and release a tell-all memoir, quite another when a high-ranking relative of the head of the church does so. This is not to say that other books out there are not worth the time nor are they less honest, it simply means that you know things have to be pretty ugly for someone who could benefit from nepotism to run away!
The Bottom Line
Whether you are new to the study of Scientology's defectors or this book is adding to your collection, you will find it educational and very well-written. The Church has already blasted the contents as spurious, which is not new (their legal tactics and creed to pursue detractors and trash them is well-documented church dogma). The passion that Jenna had toward Scientology and her break from it is a story that is sad: it was all that she knew, and for her to see Scientology in a light other than positive is shocking within itself. Combine that with the Scientology practice of "disconnection", wherein she is labelled a Suppressive Person and active Scientologists are prohibited from speaking with her, and her courage is all the more amazing. Disconnection doesn't just stop at friends and co-workers. It extends to your family: and her family is deeply entrenched within Scientology. As mentioned prior, she was a third-generation Scientologist. Her Uncle rose to the top of the organization: her leaving the Church of Scientology (both literally and figuratively) disconnected her with all that she has ever known.
And then she took the time to write about it. That is courage.
If you want an in-depth look at the Church's machinations and want to know what drove the niece of the leader to flee, get a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed.
The only thing I didn't particularly care for was the hasty way the book ended. As the book entered the final chapters, I felt like the writing became primarily summary. I can't imagine that this was entirely an editorial choice as much as a choice to protect the characters from a libel suit, but in practice it felt like the momentum sort of just fizzled and the paraphrasing and summary did a poor job of cleaning up the rest of the book.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed the first person account presented in this book, and I feel that the overall credibility and closeness added a strong and captivating angle to something I really enjoy reading about. I got it on sale as a kindle daily deal and I felt like it was a great story for what I paid for it.
Top reviews from other countries
Thank God we have brave people like Jenna in this world!
I enjoyed this narrative of life within the seeming "higher" eschalons of the organization - oddly enough, and perhaps contrary to the author's main intent, I also gained a sense of the character of L. Ron Hubbard, not merely as a dictator or a grand scale manipulator of human beings, but also as a man who (whatever else he might have done) tried with all his heart to gain insight into the dynamics of consciousness for the benefit of the race, and who succeeded in some measure, however mixed the outcome.