and physical abuse conducted by David Miscavige, its top leader.

In response to a request for comment, church spokeswoman Karin Pouw calls Wright's book "a work of fiction" and says the church was not provided with a copy of the book before publication and that, despite the church's request for written questions, Wright "studiously avoided the Church, providing only about a dozen obscure and esoteric fact-checks — none on any relevant subjects."

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"The one thing 'clear' about Lawrence Wright's book is that he continues to carry water for a handful of angry, bitter individuals. … Apostates constitute 95 percentof his interviews," she says.

Wright says he "repeatedly asked for the opportunity" to talk with top church leaders "to give them the opportunity to put their side of the story forward," but the church "chose not to respond to those requests."

Based in Austin, Tex., Wright earned the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for "Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" (Knopf). The dark side of extremism he explored in that book is also a theme in "Going Clear," especially in passages that document the abuse of its youngest and most vulnerable clerics and retaliation against certain members who choose to exit the church publicly. Wright's research debunks elements of Hubbard's biography, and the disparity he illustrates between the church's dwindling membership (estimated at 25,000) and its booming fortunes