A Piece of Blue Sky: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 21:10, 26 September 2007 editSteve Dufour (talk \| contribs)Pending changes reviewers21,429 edits 2 infoboxes on Scientology are probably not needed on such a short article← Previous edit		Revision as of 18:58, 23 October 2007 edit undoCirt (talk \| contribs)199,086 edits initial motivation from book, ''The Scandal of Scientology''Next edit →
Line 23:		Line 23:
	}}		}}
	'''''A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed''''' is a book written in ] by ], investigating ] and his enterprises such as ] and the ]. The book is critical of Scientology, its origins and leadership.		'''''A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed''''' is a book written in ] by ], investigating ] and his enterprises such as ] and the ]. The book is critical of Scientology, its origins and leadership.

			In the book, Atack noted that ]'s '']'' fascinated him, and was his motivation to do more research on the subject.<ref name="atack">'']'', ], Bibliography, References Summary , Chapter One.</ref>. Atack wrote: "I happened upon the hard-to-find ''Scandal of Scientology'' by Paulette Cooper. Now I was fascinated, and started collecting everything I could get my eager hands on - magazine articles, newspaper clippings, government files, anything."<ref name="atack" />

	A Piece of Blue Sky has been cited as a principal source of reference in academic papers by professor of sociology and history of religion ], ]<ref>], Ph.D., "International Social Control by the Church of Scientology", presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 1991</ref> and by professor of neuropsychiatry ], ]<ref>], ], "Psychiatry and Scientology", presented as the "Distinguished Psychiatrist" lecture, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, 6 May 1992</ref>.		A Piece of Blue Sky has been cited as a principal source of reference in academic papers by professor of sociology and history of religion ], ]<ref>], Ph.D., "International Social Control by the Church of Scientology", presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 1991</ref> and by professor of neuropsychiatry ], ]<ref>], ], "Psychiatry and Scientology", presented as the "Distinguished Psychiatrist" lecture, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, 6 May 1992</ref>.

Revision as of 18:58, 23 October 2007

A Piece of Blue Sky
Book Cover
Author	Jon Atack
Language	English
Subject	Scientology
Genre	non-fiction
Publisher	Carol Publishing Group
Publication date	August 19, 1990
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	448
ISBN	ISBN 0-8184-0499-X Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed is a book written in 1990 by Jon Atack, investigating L. Ron Hubbard and his enterprises such as Dianetics and the Church of Scientology. The book is critical of Scientology, its origins and leadership.

In the book, Atack noted that Paulette Cooper's The Scandal of Scientology fascinated him, and was his motivation to do more research on the subject.. Atack wrote: "I happened upon the hard-to-find Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper. Now I was fascinated, and started collecting everything I could get my eager hands on - magazine articles, newspaper clippings, government files, anything."

A Piece of Blue Sky has been cited as a principal source of reference in academic papers by professor of sociology and history of religion Stephen Kent, Ph.D. and by professor of neuropsychiatry Louis Jolyon West, M.D..

The book is available in its entirety on the internet here.

Scientology takes legal action

Before the book had even been released, Scientology attorneys sought to have a stop put to it in court. Their efforts were unsuccessful.

In 1995, a British court found Atack guilty of libel against Margaret Hodkin, the headmistress of Scientology's Greenfields School in the U.K. and issued an injunction against Atack forbidding him from publishing the offending paragraph on page 336 of the book. The paragraph, however, is available to be read in full on the court injunction itself.

Amazon.com controversy

Amazon.com was the subject of controversy when it removed the book from its listings, then reversed itself and included it after public outcry.

Title origins

The origin of the title A Piece of Blue Sky is explained at the beginning of the book:

It was 1950, in the early, heady days of Dianetics, soon after L. Ron Hubbard opened the doors of his first organization to the clamoring crowd. Up until then, Hubbard was known only to readers of pulp fiction, but now he had an instant best-seller with a book that promised to solve every problem of the human mind, and the cash was pouring in. Hubbard found it easy to create schemes to part his new following from their money. One of the first tasks was to arrange "grades" of membership, offering supposedly greater rewards, at increasingly higher prices. Over thirty years later, an associate wryly remembered Hubbard turning to him and confiding, no doubt with a smile, "Let's sell these people a piece of blue sky."

References

^ A Piece of Blue Sky, Jon Atack, Bibliography, References Summary , Chapter One.
Stephen Kent, Ph.D., "International Social Control by the Church of Scientology", presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 1991
Louis Jolyon West, M.D., "Psychiatry and Scientology", presented as the "Distinguished Psychiatrist" lecture, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, 6 May 1992
New Era Publications International v. Carol Publishing Group, January 30, 1990, No. 89 Civ. 3845 (L.L.S.), United States District Court, Southern District New York,
Decision, New Era Publications International v. Carol Publishing Group, May 24, 1990, (2d Cir., 1990) (904 F.2d 152)
Scientology in the Media, East Grinstead Evening Argus, June 10, 1994, "The Missing Word".
Court Injunction, 1993 1993 H. No.2412, Margaret Hodkin vs. Joh Atack.
Amazon reverses decision on book ban, Charles Cooper, ZDNet news, May 20, 1999
Sprenger, Polly (1999-05-25). "Scientology Book an Open Issue". Wired News. Retrieved 2006-10-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
A Piece of Blue Sky, Joh Atack, 1990

Misplaced Pages