Science fiction invites the writer to grandly explore alternative worlds and pose questions about meaning and destiny.
Lawrence WrightHubbard set up the Church of Scientology in Hollywood in 1954 for a reason. He understood that celebrity was increasingly a feature of American public life, and celebrities themselves were going to be worshipped as minor deities were in the ancient world. The idea was: if you could get them, think how many people would follow.
Lawrence WrightFrom the very beginning, when you go into Scientology your world narrows down very quickly.
Lawrence WrightIt's the hardening of these narratives that makes peace so difficult. If each side can see the narrative, the claims that the other has, then there is a much more likely possibility of making a resolution. But what I see is the opposite. There is a total disclaiming of the validity of the other side, and talk that I find really unsettling, the kind of chatter you get from ultra-right Israelis and Hamas is of annihilation. In that kind of dialogue, there's no way to move toward peace.
Lawrence WrightChronology can be dangerous. You can get so linear that it becomes robotic for the reader.
Lawrence WrightIt's funny how sometimes historians sneer at journalists, yet they depend on us in the future for the material that they mine. You realize that some of the stories wouldn't have been told if you hadn't gotten to them. There is that sense of capturing a moment that was just about to go over the horizon.
Lawrence Wright