000			03055cam a2200397 i 4500
001			on1294344215
003			OCoLC
005			20221005135414.0
008			220201t20222022nyu e b 001 0aeng d
010			_a 2022942777
040			_aYDX _beng _erda _cYDX _dBDX _dOCO _dLE@ _dOJ4 _dIUO _dUAP _dGO6 _dNFG
019			_a1294429893 _a1294454331
020			_a9781982185763 _q(hardcover)
020			_a1982185767 _q(hardcover)
035			_a(OCoLC)1294344215 _z(OCoLC)1294429893 _z(OCoLC)1294454331
043			_an-us---
092			_aRINDER, M. _bR579
049			_aNFGA
100	1		_aRinder, Mike, _eauthor.
245	1	2	_aA billion years : _bmy escape from a life in the highest ranks of Scientology / _cMike Rinder.
250			_aFirst Gallery Books hardcover edition.
264		1	_aNew York : _bGallery Books, _c2022.
264		4	_c©2022
300			_axv, 317 pages ; _c24 cm
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aMike Rinder's parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. After high school, he signed a billion-year contract and was admitted into Scientology's elite inner circle, the Sea Organization. Brought to founder L. Ron Hubbard's yacht and promised training in Hubbard's most advanced techniques, Mike was instead put to work swabbing the decks. Still, Rinder bought into the doctrine that his personal comfort was secondary to the higher purpose of Hubbard's world-saving mission, swiftly rising through the ranks. In the 1980s, Rinder became Scientology's international spokesperson and the head of its powerful Office of Special Affairs. He helped negotiate Scientology's pivotal tax exemption from the IRS and engaged with the organization's prominent celebrity members, including Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and John Travolta. Yet Rinder couldn't shake a nagging feeling that something was amiss--Hubbard's promises remained unfulfilled at his death, and his successor, David Miscavige, was a ruthless and vindictive man who did not hesitate to confine many top Scientologists, Mike among them, to a makeshift prison known as the Hole. In 2007, at the age of fifty-two, Rinder finally escaped Scientology. Overnight, he became one of the organization's biggest public enemies. He was followed, hacked, spied on, and tracked. But he refused to be intimidated and today helps people break free of Scientology. In A Billion Years, the dark, dystopian truth about Scientology is revealed as never before. Rinder offers insights into the religion that only someone of his former high rank could provide and tells a harrowing but fulfilling story of personal resilience.
600	1	0	_aRinder, Mike.
650		0	_aScientologists _zUnited States _vBiography. _9307028
650		0	_aEx-church members _zUnited States _vBiography. _9233079
650		0	_aScientology _vBiography.
655		7	_aAutobiographies. _2lcgft _9728
994			_aC0 _bNFG
999			_c352787 _d352787