Child X: A Memoir of Slavery, Poverty, Celebrity, and Scientology

"A vivid, compelling and heartrending memoir."
--Booklist

"Evocative . . . Intimate yet universally resonant . . . a powerful memoir that takes us down the darkest corridors of Scientology."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Non-stop indoctrination . . . reckless indifference . . . A nightmare childhood in the baby factory." --The Daily Mail

"Hey, kid. Kid." A voice in the darkness of the slum dorm. I awoke to my stale, bare mattress. It was midnight. The arm of a male nanny reached into the closet where my bed was, roughly jostling me. "You have to get up. They're coming."

A prosperous Black family that rose from the ashes of American slavery. A notorious movement cloaked in secrecy. A forgotten boy. And a daring escape.

Jamie Mustard was born into one of the most influential fringe movements in the 1970s: Scientology. Raised on a mythos of spaceships and made to believe that it was his life's purpose to help save the world, he was determined to survive--not only unsurvivable neglect but also the impossible physical and psychological gauntlet of extreme poverty and illiteracy. Child X is a dark existential journey into a deepest hole of human existence and the road back.

The unbelievable story of a lost generation of children, Child X takes readers through Jamie's childhood and adolescence in "the movement," his daring escape, and his rise into self-possession. With wit and vulnerability, Jamie sheds light on one of the untold, but not uncommon, accounts of a powerful Black family that rose from the ashes of slavery to prominence and wealth, and how the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s caused that rise to crumble. This deeply personal true story gives a child's-eye view of one of the most notorious American religious movements in history. Despite his family's success, Jamie would be born a slave and then reborn an artist. Through extraordinary encounters with celebrity, icons and historical figures, it also powerfully places Black American history in the larger context of world events.

A universal story of resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, Child X celebrates yet transcends race--and is ultimately an uplifting impossible to believe story of rising out of adversity and building a life full of meaning and connection. With this book, Jamie continues working to restore his family's legacy and provides a salient saga of the road to humanity and self-possession.

Author: Jamie Mustard
Publisher: Benbella Books
Published: 07/29/2025
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781637747087


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
Booklist 07/01/2025 pg. 3

About the Author
Jamie Mustard is a conceptual artist, artistic director, culturist and writer including his work on perception in the physical world relating to art, imagery and ideas.

Jamie believes that 'emotional art' is an accelerator of change. His work on the endurance of ideas has been featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, ABC News, Flaunt Magazine, Psychology Today and NPR. Growing up in severe poverty and illiteracy in inner city Los Angeles, Jamie overcame obstacles to eventually reverse engineer ideas to help humans STAND OUT based on primal laws. He believes that because of digital overload, we are all struggling to be seen and experiencing the same invisibility he felt as a child and calls this 'the economics of attention'.

His books have won the National Indie Excellence Award, the OWL--Outstanding Works in Literature--given by the largest e-commerce bookseller in the world, and runner-up for the PenCraft Book Award for Literary Excellence. Jamie is co-author of the groundbreaking book, The Invisible Machine on the biology of trauma and a children's book about resilience. His book, The Iconist is currently in-flight entertainment on American Airlines.

A graduate of the London School of Economics, Jamie's work has included the world's leading universities, business, science, technology, art, design, creativity and non-profits--Nike, Cisco, Intel, Adidas, Symantec, Parsons The New School, Pratt Institute, Georgetown University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Hult International Business School, US Army Special Forces, US Army Special Forces Psychological Operations, The Portland Art museum, Content London, The California Department of Public Health and TEDx at creative giant Wieden + Kennedy.

In late fall of 2025, his first graphic novel, HYBRED, will be released--a world written, conceived and art directed by Jamie, with all images drawn and colored in a little stone town in Southern Italy with artist Francesca Filomena. A universal story of resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, Child X celebrates yet transcends race--and is ultimately an uplifting impossible to believe story of rising out of adversity and building a life full of meaning and connection. With this book, Jamie continues working to restore his family's legacy and provides a salient saga of the road to humanity and self-possession.