Synopsis
The book is arranged into nine parts, plus introductory material. In part 1, Atack describes his personal experience in the Scientology organisation. Parts 2 – 8 provide a chronological history of L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology, researched from paper sources and interviews. The final part draws conclusions about the belief system of Scientology and its founder. The book also contains a preface by Russell Miller, author of '' Bare-faced Messiah''.Reception
Marco Frenschkowski, writing in the Marburg Journal of Religion in 1999, describes ''A Piece of Blue Sky'' as "the most thorough general history of Hubbard and Scientology, very bitter, but always well-researched." It has been widely used as a source in scholarship, and is cited in several academic publications. The ''Tampa Tribune-Times'' said that Atack's provision of extensive detail and source notes for each claim sometimes gets in the way of the story, but prevents the book from being just another bitter diatribe against Scientology. When republished in 2013, the sociologistJon Atack
Jon Atack (born Jonathan Caven-Atack in 1955) is a British author and artist who is widely recognized as one of the most informed critics of the Church of Scientology. He joined Scientology at the age of nineteen in 1974, and was based largely in the Church of Scientology's British headquarters at Saint Hill Manor in England. During his training, he said he progressed to Scientology's Operating Thetan level 5 ( OT5), completing 24 of the 27 levels of progress within Scientology. He left the organisation in 1983, disillusioned with the new leadership of David Miscavige who had taken over in the early 1980s.Shinkle, Kevin. "The religion that sells the sky," '' The Tampa Tribune-Times'', October 20, 1991. He wrote that he saw the new management as tough and ruthless, and objected particularly to the 15-fold increase in training fees. He also objected to being told not to have relationships with so-called " suppressive persons", meaning those whom the Scientology organisation had declared enemies with whom members should not communicate.Works
Jon Atack's work has frequently been cited as a source in academic publications. A notable example is the 2009 volume '' Scientology'', in which Atack's scholarship is cited by several contributors. Atack is the author of: * * * * * *Legal action
In 1990, Scientology's publishing arm, New Era Publications, attempted to prevent publication by arguing that the manuscript's inclusion of material by Hubbard infringed on their copyright of Hubbard's work, and would harm sales of the original texts. The court ruled that the manuscript might discourage people from buying Hubbard's books by convincing them he was a swindler, and that copyright law protects rather than forbids this kind of criticism. Before the outcome of the case was known, the publisher prepared two versions of the book: one with and one without Hubbard's quoted material. After publication, Scientologists picketed Atack's East Grinstead home for six days and spread defamatory leaflets around his neighbourhood.; In April 1995, a court in England held that Atack had libelled Margaret Hodkin, the headmistress of Scientology's Greenfields School in England, and issued an injunction forbidding publication of an offending paragraph. The decision was upheld by the High Court in London in May 1995. The case ledSee also
* Brainwashing * Scientology controversies * Bibliography of books critical of ScientologyReferences
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