Scientology in Australia - Banning of 'Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography By Australian Book Retailers

Banning of 'Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography By Australian Book Retailers

A book released detailing Tom Cruise's activities within Scientology was banned by the major Australian booksellers in Australia, including Dymocks and Angus and Robertson, after threats of legal action by the Church of Scientology. The book, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by British writer Andrew Morton, had been pulled from sale in the UK, and made a number of claims against Tom Cruise and claims about Scientology trying to influence Nicole Kidman. The Australian arm of publisher Pan Macmillan had planned to print a local Australian edition, but decided not to, after legal advice that the Church would act against them. This resulted in the book not being stocked by the Borders chain in Australia. Though certain bookstores in Australia refused to sell the book due to legal concerns, it was the number one bestseller in Australia for publisher AbeBooks in 2008, and the number one most-borrowed non-fiction book at libraries in Brisbane in September 2008.

Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography was published in January 2008, and reprinted with an update in February 2009. In a New York Times review, Janet Maslin wrote "... Mr. Morton has found a number of former Scientologists who are willing to speak freely, and in some cases vengefully, about the group’s purported inner workings. Mr. Morton’s eagerness to include their voices leads him to push the limits of responsible reporting." Maslin added that Morton "provides a credible portrait extrapolated from the actor’s on-the-record remarks and highly visible public behavior." Writing in Entertainment Weekly, Mark Harris gave the book a grade of "C-", and said "Cruise emerges from Morton's takedown moderately scratched but as uncracked as ever." Another review in the New York Times by Ada Calhooun said:

However shady Scientology may be, Morton’s language in “Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography” is extreme. He and his sources compare the church and its leadership to fascists, the Roman Empire, storm troopers, Machiavelli, Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” Napoleon, Stalinists and North Korea. He also repeatedly invokes Nazism, and quotes without censure the German Protestant Church’s comparison of Cruise to Joseph Goebbels.

Teresa Budasi of the Chicago Sun-Times described the book as "fascinating", although Budasi also brought up a "question as to what’s true and what isn’t." Budasi summed up her impression of the work, writing "Morton’s book is as much an indictment on Cruise’s chosen faith as it is the life story of one of the world’s biggest movie stars. And by the end you realize that 'Scientologist' is what will end up being the role of his lifetime." In a review in The Buffalo News, Jeff Simon wrote of the author: "To give Morton the credit he’s clearly due: he is one of the best around at constructing a 250-page gossip column."

Upon its publication, Cruise's lawyer and the Church of Scientology released statements which question the truthfulness of assertions made by Morton in the book. In a 15-page statement released to the press, the Church of Scientology called the book "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies." The book was not published in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand due to strict libel laws in those countries.