Alcoholics Anonymous Books

Jennifer Storm is a true survival story...one that breaks the heart, captures the soul, and defies the odds. Having known Storm only in sobriety, I was stunned to read of the horrible events that shaped her past, as well as her unrelenting descent into addiction and self-destruction. This woman of such charisma, intelligence, and spirit could not possibly have been so close to complete and utter disaster. And yet, she was...thankfully living to tell us about it. I am so grateful that Storm shared her story with me, with our student-athletes, with our educators, with all of us. For a person to know with certainty that he or she is not alone is the ultimate gift; with a brutally honest account of her past, Storm has given a voice to countless others. Anyone who has the privilege and courage to read this book or to hear Storm speak will feel the hope and energy that fuels her indomitable spirit, and can also help to fuel their own journey through recovery.

I absolutely recommend this book to all young women...and young men. If you are looking for a speaker to reach your young people, bring Storm to your campus or school. Our student-athletes (and coaches and administrators) were completely taken not only by her message, but also by her charismatic presence. I have no doubt she started the healing process for many, and most assuredly saved a few lives.

I had the priveledge of knowing Jennifer as a teenage friend, as well as both of her brothers. I believe that this book took an incredible amount of courage to write and I also feel that this book will prove to help those faced with the same problems, fears and addictions. If we could only help our youth today by letting them know that "Yes. We have gone through some of the same emotions as teenagers as you do now!". This is what this book is doing and will do. Please if you feel that you know someone who will benefit from this book, I would suggest buying it for them. She gives a tremendous amount of insight into the thoughts of uncertainty that all teenagers and young adults go through on a daily basis as they try to make sense of it all. Thank You Jennifer, Thank You.

Jennifer Storm's first book is a poignant memoir of her battle with addiction and sexuality. Her journey takes us from the beginnings of her downward spiral to rock bottom to living proof of successful recovery and battling one's own demons. Jennifer is a strong, courageous woman who bares her soul to all in hopes of reaching others who've traveled down this road. Her book encompasses how to go about getting help and how she did so rather than just a happy ending.

As parents, her story speaks volumes of the great world of "enabling" in which we live by and do not even realize in thinking we're trying to "help" our children who are lost or struggling. I strongly encourage all parents of teenagers to read Jennifer's story. The amazing work Jennifer has done and continues to do daily in the field of victim services is only a portion of the extraordinary woman she's become. To revisit these places in her life, reliving the memories of her past, takes a person of great courage and strength to realize where she's come. I am anxiously awaiting her next book!
Vikke

Jennifer shared a story that many cannot relate to because we are more priviledged. How fortunate for us. There are those who are not as blessed. She has written her story which hopefully will encourage anyone who has endured even just some of the events that she has had to endure. To read where she came from and where she is now is amazing and encouraging to say the least. These tragedies happen and touch just about all of us in some way. Share the book with everyone you know, parents and younger ones to benefit by her experiences. I did.

This story is not unique. And that's unfortunate. It doesn't mean, however, that this isn't a valuable book and another reminder of the dangers American children face, particularly when they're left unsupervised. Alcohol and drug addiction, an equal-opportunity disease, remains a menace in this society, and I think the true purpose of this book is to alert parents of adolescents and teens to what's beyond their suburban fences and to PAY ATTENTION.

When an addict lives to tell the tale, it's always cause for celebration. Jennifer Storm writes with a simple, disarming style, wears it all on her sleeve, and bares little if any residual shame--just the ugly truth of her life as an addict. She illustrates the three distinct paths ahead for anyone drinking and drugging to that degree: jail, death, or recovery. And in spite of spending a good portion of her teen years experiencing blackout, she remembers and relates quite a bit about being raped (more than once) and her foray into intoxication to escape "the pain," from simply stealing sips of her mother's green liquor to becoming a suicidal crack addict.

There's room for these stories outside of AA meetings and in commercial fiction, with the hope that anyone who stumbles upon this book will find information, solace, and perhaps, steps toward recovery for themselves or someone they love. Storm also touches on why recovering addicts feel the need to share, when she relates a scene during the ride to rehab in "a druggie delivery car with a stoned crackhead" to her right, who acknowledges her in a way that shows he understands. It puts her at ease.

I recommend this book for parents of at risk children. If you know someone who fits this description, hand him or her a copy of Blackout Girl and suggest they read it cover to cover. Given the generally selfish and disengaged nature of these types of parents, you might have to read it out loud.

From the author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

an amature evaluation that takes too many words to make her point... rather tedious to read but makes some valid points

I did stop drinking when I went to AA. For that, I will always be grateful. However, after a year or so, after being told that I was "too smart to stay sober," told that friends who drank again were "losers" and to stay away from them, and realizing that my choice to back off on meeting attendance brought threats of dire consequences in my future, I just stopped going.
I also realized that the focus on AA as the ONLY treatment method for alcoholics was really standing in the way of finding alternative treatment methods for the majority of people who AA does not help. If any other method of treatment had such a dismal failure rate, it would be retired for some new modality. This is still a mystery to me.
It's important to talk about this, to break this grip that the 12 step programs have on the recovery business.

1. The Twelve Steps do not work as a program of recovery from drug or alcohol problems.
o The A.A. failure rate ranges from 95% to 100%. Sometimes, the A.A. success rate is actually less than zero, which means that A.A. indoctrination is positively harmful to people, and prevents recovery. Some tests have shown that even receiving no treatment at all for alcoholism is much better than receiving A.A. treatment:
o One of the most enthusiastic boosters of Alcoholics Anonymous, Professor George Vaillant of Harvard University, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), showed by his own 8 years of testing of A.A. that A.A. was worse than useless -- that it didn't help the alcoholics any more than no treatment at all, and it had the highest death rate of any treatment program tested -- a death rate that Professor Vaillant himself described as "appalling". While trying to prove that A.A. treatment works, Professor Vaillant actually proved that A.A. kills. After 8 years of A.A. treatment, the score with Dr. Vaillant's first 100 alcoholic patients was: 5 sober, 29 dead, and 66 still drinking.
(Nevertheless, Vaillant is still a Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he still wants to send all alcoholics to A.A. anyway, to "get an attitude change by confessing their sins to a high-status healer." That is cult religion, not a treatment program for alcoholism.)
o The A.A. dropout rate is terrible. Most people who come to A.A. looking for help in quitting drinking are appalled by the narrow-minded atmosphere of fundamentalist religion and faith-healing. The A.A. meeting room has a revolving door. The therapists, judges, and parole officers (many of whom are themselves hidden members of A.A. or N.A.) continually send new people to A.A., but those newcomers vote with their feet once they see what A.A. really is. Even A.A.'s own triennial surveys, conducted by the A.A. headquarters (the GSO), say that:
X 81% of the newcomers are gone within 30 days,
X 90% are gone in 3 months, and
X 95% are gone at the end of a year.
That automatically gives A.A. a failure rate of at least 95%. But the GSO does not count all of those people who only attend a few meetings before quitting -- they don't qualify as "members". (That amounts to "cherry-picking".) If we included them, then the numbers would be much worse.
And also note that the claimed five percent of A.A. newcomers who are still left after one year is exactly the same number as the usual rate of spontaneous remission among alcoholics -- five percent per year. That is, in any randomly-selected population of alcoholics, approximately five percent per year will finally get sick and tired of being sick and tired, and they will just quit drinking. And the Harvard Medical School says that 80% of those successful quitters do it by themselves, alone, without any "treatment program" or any "support group".
If we subtract the normal spontaneous remission rate for alcoholism of five percent per year from A.A.'s claimed success rate of five percent, we get zero for A.A.'s real effective cure rate.
A.A. does not actually make anybody quit drinking; it just takes the credit for the people who were going to quit anyway. A.A. is just taking the credit for peoples' efforts to save their own lives.
o The Twelve Steps are actually a hopelessly bad program for recovery:
X Cult religion is not a good cure for alcoholism, and A.A. most assuredly is a cult religion.
X One of the biggest problems with the Twelve-Step program is the learned helplessness caused by the First Step, where people are taught to confess that they are "powerless over alcohol." This leads many people to believe that once they have a drink, that a full-blown relapse and total loss of self-control is inevitable and unavoidable. So some people go on suicidally-intense binges, thinking that it is pointless to try to resist temptation.2 --
X Step Two is just as bad: it teaches people that they are insane, and that only a Supernatural Being can restore them to sanity -- which means that they are helpless, and cannot heal themselves.
X Then Step Three teaches a lifestyle of infantile narcissism and passive dependency, where A.A. members turn control of their wills and their lives over to "the care of God as we understood Him", and then they expect God to take care of them and run their lives for them, and solve all their problems, and wait on them hand and foot, and do all of the hard work for them from then on...
"Let Go And Let God"
is their official motto, their lifestyle, and their approach to problem-solving.
X Then Steps Four through Ten induce guilt in the members by forcing members to make lists of all of their sins and flaws, and "defects of character" and "moral shortcomings", and confess every intimate dirty little secret to another A.A. member who isn't even ordained clergy, or even sworn to secrecy.
X In Step Eleven you are supposed to "channel" God and receive psychic work orders and power.
X Then Step Twelve tells you to go recruiting, to draft more alcoholics into this madness.
o There is also experimental evidence that the A.A. teachings about powerlessness lead to binge drinking. In a controlled study of A.A.'s effectiveness, court-mandated offenders who had been sent to A.A. for several months were engaging in five times as much binge drinking as the no-treatment control group which got no A.A. "help".
o A.A. boosters and propagandists constantly repeat the Big Lie that A.A. works great, and A.A. with its Twelve Steps is the way that everybody recovers:

Finally, the truth is coming out about 12 step programs. I went to AA for about a year. I did get and stay sober, but believe me, it wasnt because of AA. I tried several different meetings, to see if they all had the same affect on me. Yup, they did. Every time I left a meeting I felt so depressed - I had to be powerless, I would NEVER recover, and I would have to continue go to these really awful meetings and follow the "big book" which is nothing but a bunch of contradictions and coercion to keep going to meetings. Otherwise, I would start drinking again and the result would be "prison, institutions, or death." Leaving meetings, many times, I would want a drink to get over the craziness in the meeting itself! All I saw were old timers that were addicted to meetings and being "in recovery." So many of them were suspicious of people who arent 12 steppers, even if those people dont have problems with alcohol or drugs. Anyway, thank goodness for this book. They should hand it out to first timers in 12 step meetings so they can tell the myths from the truth.

The author does not understand the 12 step program. It is not a program of endless powerlessness. Power is obtained through contact with a higher power. People suffering from addiction learn to become truly powerful by calling upon something greater than ourselves. This book is dangerous because it can confuse people who are successful in recovery.

Thank you for the book. It was as decribed. I received it in a timely fashion also.

It is time we get back to how AA was supposed to be. This book is a starting point that all REAL AA's should teach. Our rooms are filled with too many want abees.
Esben F. J.
Norway

A small group of us chose to go throught the steps using this book. Any STEP work is a good idea. I believe this book is easy to understand and provides the guidelines needed to get the work done!!

I havent gotten past the evolution of how we got to this stage where its become so serious for the Fellowship .
We have so many people who just dont have a clue of what the program is and what the Fellowship is .We have to know where we have been before we can deal with the present .

After having had the Back To Basics Beginners Meeting shared with me after several years of contented sobriety, I was excited to have found a perfect guide to help people in sharing the message of AA.This is a perfect tool to guide the sponsor/sponsee relationship in the direction needed to not only introduce the 12 steps but also to re-inforce the principles of AA in all our affairs.
The response from not only new members but also those with various degrees of continuous sobriety has been beyond my wildest expectations and show a definite hunger in the members of AA for a duplicateable program of recovery commited to the foundations of our program of "taking the steps" not just talking about them.

Joe McQ's guide for sponsorship is an invaluable aid to both experienced 12-Step sponsors and new sponsors just linking up with a person in recovery. There's no fluff or dross here; Joe tells it like it is and he speaks from many years of experience, both his own and that of others. Joe McQ is a fundamentalist, Big Book fellow, as his many workshops and recordings testify. His modesty and humility mask a deep understanding of human nature. You'll get more than you bargain for in this deceptively slim paperback.

Joe McQ. is fantastic at helping understand the Alcoholics Anonymous book and the 12 steps. In this book, he has been a great help to me. To carry this message is one of the corner stones of recovery, and Joe writes about how to do just that.

CARRY THIS MESSAGE IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK FOR ANY ONE WANTING TO EXPAND ON THE PROGRAM OFA.A.THE BIG BOOK OF A.A.IS STILL THE BASIC TEXT.ANOTHER GREAT BOOK BY JOE McQ IS "THE STEPS WE TOOK".

Any and everything by Joe McQ is excellent. His knowledge and experience are unsurpassed.

Okay, maybe the title of this review is a bit much. . . . Joe practically sponsored me in my early sobriety. I sobered up in his "Dormitory for Drunks" as he liked to call it in 1983. (He never liked the term "Treatment Center") Every Monday night many, many of us alcoholics would gather at the Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock, Arkansas to hear him lecture on one of the Steps. I don't have the ability to share how much and how well I've learned from this man. Even today as I attend meetings, I share the principles of sobriety he taught me. The serenity I have lived all these years is directly related to the program of AA as Joe shared it with me. Joe has helped tens of thousands, probably, literally hundreds of thousands of Alcoholics throughout the world with his famous "Big Book Study"'s. This book is no exception as he shares his wisdom, experience and knowledge of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and how to share it with others. You'll be doing yourself and your prospects quite a favor by reading it.

1. The Twelve Steps do not work as a program of recovery from drug or alcohol problems.
o The A.A. failure rate ranges from 95% to 100%. Sometimes, the A.A. success rate is actually less than zero, which means that A.A. indoctrination is positively harmful to people, and prevents recovery. Some tests have shown that even receiving no treatment at all for alcoholism is much better than receiving A.A. treatment:
o One of the most enthusiastic boosters of Alcoholics Anonymous, Professor George Vaillant of Harvard University, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), showed by his own 8 years of testing of A.A. that A.A. was worse than useless -- that it didn't help the alcoholics any more than no treatment at all, and it had the highest death rate of any treatment program tested -- a death rate that Professor Vaillant himself described as "appalling". While trying to prove that A.A. treatment works, Professor Vaillant actually proved that A.A. kills. After 8 years of A.A. treatment, the score with Dr. Vaillant's first 100 alcoholic patients was: 5 sober, 29 dead, and 66 still drinking.
(Nevertheless, Vaillant is still a Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he still wants to send all alcoholics to A.A. anyway, to "get an attitude change by confessing their sins to a high-status healer." That is cult religion, not a treatment program for alcoholism.)
o The A.A. dropout rate is terrible. Most people who come to A.A. looking for help in quitting drinking are appalled by the narrow-minded atmosphere of fundamentalist religion and faith-healing. The A.A. meeting room has a revolving door. The therapists, judges, and parole officers (many of whom are themselves hidden members of A.A. or N.A.) continually send new people to A.A., but those newcomers vote with their feet once they see what A.A. really is. Even A.A.'s own triennial surveys, conducted by the A.A. headquarters (the GSO), say that:
X 81% of the newcomers are gone within 30 days,
X 90% are gone in 3 months, and
X 95% are gone at the end of a year.
That automatically gives A.A. a failure rate of at least 95%. But the GSO does not count all of those people who only attend a few meetings before quitting -- they don't qualify as "members". (That amounts to "cherry-picking".) If we included them, then the numbers would be much worse.
And also note that the claimed five percent of A.A. newcomers who are still left after one year is exactly the same number as the usual rate of spontaneous remission among alcoholics -- five percent per year. That is, in any randomly-selected population of alcoholics, approximately five percent per year will finally get sick and tired of being sick and tired, and they will just quit drinking. And the Harvard Medical School says that 80% of those successful quitters do it by themselves, alone, without any "treatment program" or any "support group".
If we subtract the normal spontaneous remission rate for alcoholism of five percent per year from A.A.'s claimed success rate of five percent, we get zero for A.A.'s real effective cure rate.
A.A. does not actually make anybody quit drinking; it just takes the credit for the people who were going to quit anyway. A.A. is just taking the credit for peoples' efforts to save their own lives.
o The Twelve Steps are actually a hopelessly bad program for recovery:
X Cult religion is not a good cure for alcoholism, and A.A. most assuredly is a cult religion.
X One of the biggest problems with the Twelve-Step program is the learned helplessness caused by the First Step, where people are taught to confess that they are "powerless over alcohol." This leads many people to believe that once they have a drink, that a full-blown relapse and total loss of self-control is inevitable and unavoidable. So some people go on suicidally-intense binges, thinking that it is pointless to try to resist temptation.2 --
X Step Two is just as bad: it teaches people that they are insane, and that only a Supernatural Being can restore them to sanity -- which means that they are helpless, and cannot heal themselves.
X Then Step Three teaches a lifestyle of infantile narcissism and passive dependency, where A.A. members turn control of their wills and their lives over to "the care of God as we understood Him", and then they expect God to take care of them and run their lives for them, and solve all their problems, and wait on them hand and foot, and do all of the hard work for them from then on...
"Let Go And Let God"
is their official motto, their lifestyle, and their approach to problem-solving.
X Then Steps Four through Ten induce guilt in the members by forcing members to make lists of all of their sins and flaws, and "defects of character" and "moral shortcomings", and confess every intimate dirty little secret to another A.A. member who isn't even ordained clergy, or even sworn to secrecy.
X In Step Eleven you are supposed to "channel" God and receive psychic work orders and power.
X Then Step Twelve tells you to go recruiting, to draft more alcoholics into this madness.
o There is also experimental evidence that the A.A. teachings about powerlessness lead to binge drinking. In a controlled study of A.A.'s effectiveness, court-mandated offenders who had been sent to A.A. for several months were engaging in five times as much binge drinking as the no-treatment control group which got no A.A. "help".
o A.A. boosters and propagandists constantly repeat the Big Lie that A.A. works great, and A.A. with its Twelve Steps is the way that everybody recovers.

Great to see this First Printing of the First Edition! There is a small, yet unmistakably important difference between the First Edition and the following 3 - that is, the Dr.'s Opinion was originally positioned starting on Page 1. Somehow, in the second edition, and the following 2, this chapter was moved to the xxi's (preface) and I am convinced that in doing so, the importance of the physical allergy has been lost. Early in Bill W.'s recovery, he was having little success helping other alcoholics achieve sobriety. He told Dr. Silkworth about his concerns, and "Silky" answered, "Bill, you have to hit them with the facts!" The message as we know, must have depth and weight! I am afraid, that by moving the Dr's Opinion into the preface, we have lost the "punch" - I don't know about anyone else, but I start reading on page 1, and often skip that boring old preface stuff! To any AA member, or friend of AA, please buy this book and point out in your groups and to your sponsees, that a clear understanding of the problem is the only way that the rest of the steps can be fully integrated. Let's get back to basics and see if we can't revive recovery rates back to what they were!!

THE SELLER ADVERTISEMENT SAID THIS WAS A HARDCOVER BOOK. WHEN I GOT MY SHIPMENT IT WAS A SOFTCOVER. THAT IS WHY I ORDER THE BOOK TO GET IT IN HARDCOVER. I DON'T LIKE DOING BUSINESS WITH SOMEONE THAT DOSE THIS TO HIS BUYERS. I WOULD TELL PEOPLE NOT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM BECAUSE YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU THINK YOU HAVE ORDED.

LISA CLEMENT

DICKSON, TENN

Some people have sobered up, merely by reading the Big Book. That start, and the HOPE offered in these pages, can be the beginning of a New Life, if the Alcoholic is willing to become honest, open, and willing to talk to others about his problem with alcohol.

The Big Book points out that alcohol is merely the symptom of a much deeper problem, an almost undefinable and non-specific spiritual malady which makes it impossible for the alcoholic to feel at ease with himself and others, without the ease and comfort found in a few drinks. The Big Book points out how most alcoholics are driven by several elements: FEAR, RESENTMENT [old angers], or the occasional feeling that they have been unfairly dominated by others [anyone can be, you know!]etc... and can be free of these by talking to other alcoholics.

The Big Book is an outline for recovery, never claiming to be a "cure" or a certain solution for everyone and anything. Some people have recovered from alcoholism, though, and the Big Book offers a suggested outline that seems to help a few.

The first 164 pages of the Big Book is the outline for recovery, which constitute the "program" of recovery. Then comes a baker's dozen personal stories, and the apparent miraculous relief that certain problem drinkers have experienced, armed only with the hope that there just might be another way to live without having to fight constantly with alcohol or the phenomenon of craving. Nor did they have to practice a constant vigilance, tight-lipped and white-knuckled. Instead, the alcoholics in these stories tell of being entirely relieved of such nightmarish scenarios, and are permitted by a Higher Power to live and love and enter into a new life.

The Big Book does not require a "belief" for recovery, nor that the alcoholic brow beat himself, punish himself, 'swear-off' or take an oath, or rely upon other people or human power, and neither does the Big Book demand affiliation with any organized religion, political view, ideology or organization. It is about a human malady for which there is not, nor ever has been, a cure. RECOVERY is distinct from notions of "cure". It suggests that the alcoholic talk to other alcholics about their common problem with alcohol.


The Big Book points out the difficulty with alcohol for women, who sometimes pass into oblivion, drinking alone, in silence, long before their family and friends realize that there was an alcohol problem, because they drank alone in some apartment.

The Big Book is about what you "do". What you do, is address Ego-centered living by using Twelve Steps that enable the alcoholic to find hope, serenity, and a sense of meaning to it all, where no other way seems to exist. The feeling of hopelessness, and the sense of being bereft of all power are removed by a Higher Power, and the alcoholic ends up finding a POWER, a miraculous POWER.

[The program of recovery does not belong, I might add, to any individual, or organization. In observation of which, I will add, that the program of recovery is a gift, and that no power on earth, neither man, nor institution, nor nation, nor any thing, can separate us from Sobriety, if it is the will of that Power to give us the gift. Neither disapproval, nor enmity, nor human ignorance, nor public ridicule, nor lack of popularity, can come between us and the gift of Sobriety, nor from the Power who gives it.]

Possibly the greatest tool is the one many people come to use naturally. It's called the UNIVERSAL PRAYER. It consists of three words. Can you say them? *** "GOD, HELP ME." ***

TITLE

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

AUTHOR

Alcoholics Anonymous

World Services, Inc.

New York City

PUBLISHER

A.A. World Services, Inc.

Printed In the United States Of America

COPYRIGHT

Library of Congress

Catalog Card No. 76-4029

Sixteen printings from 1955-1974
Third Edition, New and Revised, 1976
Sixty-fourth printing 1999
Large-print edition 1990
Seventeenth printing 1999

This is the third edition of the book "Alcoholics Anonymous". The first edition appeared in April 1939, and in the following sixteen years, more than 300,000 copies went into circulation. The second edition, published in 1955, reached a total of more than 1,150,000 copies.

Because this book has become the basic text for our Society, and has helped such large members of alcoholic men and women to recovery, there exists a sentiment against any radical changes being made in it.

Therefore, the first portion of this volume, describing the A.A. recovery program, has been left untouched in the course of revisions made for both the second, and the third editions.
The section called "The Doctor's Opinion" has been kept intact just as it was originally written in 1939 by the late Dr.William D. SilkWorth, our Society's great medical benefactor.

The second edition added the appendices, the Twelve Traditions, and the directions for getting in touch with A.A. But the chief change was in the section of personal stories, which was expanded to reflect the fellowship's growth. "Bill's Story", "Doctor Bob's Nightmare", and one other personal history from the first edition were retained intact; three were edited and one of these was retitled; new versions of two stories were written, with new titles; thirty completely new stories were added; and the story section was divided into three parts, under the same headings that are used now.

In this third edition, Part 1 ("Pioneers of A.A.") stands unchanged. Nine of the stories in Part 11 ("they stopped in time") are carried over from the second edition; eight new stories have been added. In Part 111 ("They Lost Nearly All"), eight stories have been retained; five are new.

All changes made over the years in the Big Book (A.A. Member's fond nickname for this volume) have had the same purpose:
To represent the current membership of Alcoholics Anonymous more accurately, and there by to reach more alcoholics. If you have a drinking problem, we hope that you may pause in reading one of the forty-four personal stories and think: "Yes, that happened to me", or, more important, "Yes, I've felt like that", or, most important, "Yes, I believe this program can work for me, too".

Sixteen years have elapsed since 1939 (the original foreword) our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics.

Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man/women who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.
But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with him is right, and great events will come to pass for you, and countless others. This is the great fact for us.

Abandon yourself to God as you under-stand God, admit your faults to him, and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the fellowship of the spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you, and keep you-until then.

I would like to add that this book, the fellowship of A.A., and my "Higher Power", has saved my life from destruction.....

The first 164 pages are the heart of recovery, while the rest of the book is of stories that have really happened to other members. I know this might be a long review, but believe me the program has saved millions from institutions, prisons and death. Alcoholism is a disease, and it has no prejudice at all, it doesn't matter what color you are, what sex you are, or what title, or position you hold. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers and people from all walks of life. It has torn threw families, and destroyed relationships over and over again. The only way is of complete surrender to a Higher Power, and the fellowship of recovery.....

Ernie Kurtz made a big research project for his doctorate and we are the recepients of a lot of history both written and in the oral tradition all put into one volumne. Not only a good read but a reference manual.

This is an excellent book giving a deeper understanding of Alcoholics Anonymous. To have a chronicled background from which the program and 12 steps originated is invaluable. It is useful for both personal study and also for professional information. As a recovering alcoholic using the program of alcoholics anonymous, I have a much greater appreciation for how the 12 step process works and the hours and time that previous participants put in so we can have this option available to us. As a professional, I have a greater understanding of the context and history for why this works and why science and medicine have not been able to effectively help alcoholics so far. Kurtz's wonderfully rich details gives a full 360 view of why and how alcoholics can recover using the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous.

Whether you are an alcoholic or not, this is a divine program given to those that suffer from a disease called alcoholism. This book is probably the most detailed account leading up to the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935 up to around 1975 (book published in 1979).

Although not A.A. approved literature, I recommend this as a MUST read. Especially, to those that are recovered from a seemingly hopeless state-of-mind & body. It will BLOW you away with inspiration.

Chris Y.
sobriety date 8/17/05
home group: "There is a Solution," Saturday Nights, 7:30pm, Bayside Chapel, 965 West Bay Ave., Barnegat, NJ

in depth history of aa beginnings, including much insight into the formative reasons for the successes and failures of this program. very helpful for someone new to aa, trying to grasp the essence of the program.

Wonderfully insightful for all. Splendidly illustrates the history and formation of AA and it's painstaking growth through the early formative years of AA.
A great read!

This is an entertaining and very readable book. Some tend to recoil from the word "history" in A.A. But most, like myself, like a good story. And a well-told history story is just as appealing as a drunkalog. Dick begins the tale with the Russell Firestone story, Jim Newton's important catalytic role in life-changing recovery ideas, the famous 1933 Oxford Group meetings in Akron, and the way Akron's Christian Fellowship developed from those roots. There is no lack of discussion and depiction of the important personages in the Akron scene--Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith, Anne Ripley Smith, Henrietta Seiberling, Dr. Walter Tunks, Rev. Wright, other pioneers and what they gave to the original A.A. program and its ideas. I found the book very appealing to me as one much involved in recovery work, a person deeply participating in Bible research and history, and a former VMI student and Marine who has a taste for history. Especially when the history demonstrates the potential for victory. There are some who have wondered why the book stops in 1939. But its scope was to cover the "Akron Genesis"--the early beginnings that transpired primarily between 1935 and 1938 and produced such highly successful results. There are other works which cover Rev. Sam Shoemaker,the Oxford Group, New Thought, Father Dowling, Sister Ignatia, Clarence Snyder, and some of the other luminaries of the 1940's. This book is for those who want an accurate and complete picture of the original A.A. program--the one that had a documented 75% success rate among real alcoholics who wanted to get well by relying on God.

Under the guise of "AA History" the writer attempts to bend AA to fit an Evangelical Christian agenda: its his position that "true" recovery is only possible if the alcoholic converts to the writer's version of Christianity...

Not only is this exclusivist revisionism in direct conflict with AA World Service sanctioned histories, it is an assault on the Big Book itself. This is the kind of (truly anti-Christian) stuff that kills drunks.

Dick B. had barely begun his extensive research and publishing on A.A. history before he realized the real hole in A.A. history centered around the total lack of information about the origins, program, and people involved in the Akron A.A. Fellowship. Dick went to Akron, searched the newspapers, interviewed Dr. Bob's daughter and later his son. He spent hours with Congressman Seiberling and later with T. Henry Williams's daughter as well as many Oxford Group and A.A. activists who were knowledgeable of A.A. Bible roots in Akron. These included Rev. T. Willard Hunter, the venerable Mel B., Ray G., the archivist at Dr. Bob's Home, the Clarence Snyder crowd, the Shoemaker family, and many others. The resultant work in this book has become timeless in importance. It has been printed by more than one publisher. It has had several editions. And it is still much in demand. Fortunately, it told the truth. Hence the many additional facts about Dr. Bob, Anne, Henrietta, the Akron AA fellowship, the AA Akron pamphlets, the literature AAs read have served to embellish and enrich The Akron Genesis story rather than contradict it or diminish the value of its contents. Don't miss this book. It is foundational to the understanding of how A.A. really began--in Akron.

After 29yrs of reading different books this provided me with a wealth of information of how and were it all begain.

Most members of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that their program of recovery began with the Twelve Steps. Not true. Many believe that the majority of the pioneer members of AA died drunk. Not so. Still many others believe that AA is at least as successful today as it ever was, and maybe even more successful. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.

Today's mainstream "histories" of AA contain the usual generalizations of purported "facts" about its formative years. They follow the lead of New York co-founder Bill Wilson and his woefully inaccurate description of this period as one of "flying blind." One recently published book by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. suggests, "They were still a little unsure and afraid of this `thing' they had found, still groping for clear guidelines, still largely uneducated about their alcoholism." Yet in 1948 AA co-founder Dr. Bob Smith recalled, "...in early AA days, we became quite convinced that the spiritual program was fine." This should signal the observers to conclude that maybe we haven't been properly educated about our own history.

The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous magnificently encapsulates the actual details behind the earliest years of Alcoholics Anonymous and its program of recovery, including its root sources and their practical applications, as led in Akron, Ohio by Dr. Bob Smith. The reader will learn of the vital ingredients of the pioneer program, including: permanent abstinence, complete surrender to God through His only son Jesus Christ, the removal of sins such as hatred and adultery, morning Quiet Time [including reading of the Bible and other religious devotionals], helping other alcoholics, forming social and religious comradeships, and church attendance. This book also introduces the reader to the key people who helped to influence the course of early Alcoholics Anonymous, including early Oxford Group members like James Newton, Russell Firestone, T. Henry and Clarace Williams, Henrietta Seiberling, and perhaps the most overlooked figure in AA history, Anne Ripley Smith, the wife of Dr. Bob.

Many revisionist historians are content to say that the Akron influence effectively ended in 1939 with the publication of AA's Big Book. And yet it was the Midwest AA that first commanded the national attention if the media. It was Akron's program that was noticed by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. It was the Akron formula that produced a 75% success rate for "medically incurable" alcoholics who "really tried." Recently AA's General Service Office concluded that today's fellowship is experiencing a 95% dropout rate for first year members. Maybe there is something in this book that we can all learn from. In an era when an increasing number of individuals are seeking an answer to their problems, it would make sense to start at the beginning. The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous should be the first book on their list.

Ever since I have known Dick B. and helped him from time to time, people have stormed the gates for this Oxford Group book. It has been revised, reprinted, and is now in process of being placed in print on demand. Its shelf life will indeed be long. There are those who don't like the Oxford Group. There are those who don't like its founder Frank Buchman. There are those who think that A.A. "left" the Oxford Group. And there are people who never knew how much A.A. Cofounder Bill Wilson was involved in the Oxford Group itself between 1934 and 1937 when Bill and Lois left. There are others who don't know how little the Oxford Group influenced Akron A.A. And most of all, there are those who haven't opened their eyes to the fact that Bill Wilson himself stated that almost all of his ideas had come from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker who had been asked by Bill to write the Twelve Steps. Shoemaker was, at that time, one of the Oxford Group leaders in America and probably the most prolific Oxford Group writer of all time. The Big Book and the Steps are largely Oxford Group in origin. Dick has received strong endorsements of his work from Oxford Group leaders, from Shoemaker family members and co-workers, and from A.A. survivors. If you want to know the truth and details about The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous--devoid of rancor, bitterness, distaste, and fabrication--this accurate study is a landmark and merits your study and ownership as a timeless and invaluable reference work. And history.

... As another reviewer correctly notes, the early recovery rates were nothing like 75 percent from initial contact. At the time of the writing of the Big Book, only a handful of alcoholics were solidly sober in New York, despite Bill's efforts of several years, and at least two of them were of an agnostic bent ... Hank and Jim B. In Akron, where they number 80 or so -- still less than 100, virtually all Protestant, virtually all men -- they were still putting the newbies in the hospital and then visiting them continuously for days before offering the message. It just could be that that sort of personal, intensive attention and identification had more to do with the better results in Ohio than the explicitly Christian message of the still-extant Oxford Group ``drunk squad.'' While much of value was retained from the Oxford Group, much else was quickly jettisoned with the formation of the first independent AA group in Cleveland. And it is from those roots that AA really took off, with the Plain Dealer articles, etc. I have heard a number of tapes (and a few talks in person) from alcoholics of that era. Clearly, the emphasis was more ``religious'' than today; Christian devotionals were widely used; in Ohio, the Absolutes and a respectful nod toward the Bible remained. But the evangelical Protestant tone of the Oxford Groups did not survive. Catholics and Jews were among the early second wave ... according to Clarence S., about whom Dick has written a book. I am in much agreement with much of what Dick has to say ... such attitudes as ``take what you need and leave the rest'' :) and explicitly virulent attacks on religion do not help alcoholics get and stay sober. Nothing in the program is a bar to the practice of religion and the book suggests consulting with our priest, rabbi or minister (not many Christians have a rabbi!) about our spiritual life. But it's hard to imagine something more divisive than evangelical Christian prosthelytizing in the context of an AA meeting. It's a message that can be carried ... outside those walls.

Again, I admire Dick's homework. There is lots of useful information here and in his other books that simply is readily not available elsewhere. Some of his premises are off-base, and hence some of his conclusions -- based on the sort of evidence that you get if you're hoping to build a case -- are equally off-base.

I have found the insights on such matters as morning meditation to be life-changing. Life-changing ... that's what it's all about. Not so much your mind ... or even your heart ... but your life.

Thank God for AA. And best wishes to Dick B.

The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anoymous is one of the early books Dick B. wrote. It has had several publishers, several reprints, and two editions. Since the original publication in the early 1990's, Dick has continued his Oxford Group and Oxford Group related research. And certainly one of the most important and developing truths he discovered is the number of wellsprings (other than the OG) which provided the complete A.A. picture - 14 elements by last count. They include Dr. Carl Jung and conversion; United Christian Endeavor and the practices of conversion, Bible study, prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, love and service; the Salvation Army with abstinence, salvation, and service; the Rescue Missions with altar call conversions, Bible reading, hymns, prayers, and testimonies; the writings of William James on conversions and the rescue mission testimonies; input from Rowland Hazard as to conversion and Oxford Group ideas; Dr. William D. Silkworth's ideas on alcoholism and on Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, as the cure; the Oxford Group and its 28 point life-changing program that wound up as the basis for Wilson's New York program and Big Book; the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker which were virtually copied into the Twelve Steps; the teachings of Dr. Bob's wife before and after A.A. was founded and covering the Bible, the literature, the devotionals, most of the OG life-changing ideas, and practical advice for alkies and their families; the twisting into the A.A. story Richard Peabody's "no cure" ideas several years later; Quiet Time and its call for rebirth, Bible study, prayer, use of devotionals, and seeking God's guidance; the immense amount of Christian literature AAs read, including the many books read and circulated by Dr. Bob; the New Thought Movement's "higher power" theories coupled with bits of its universalim language; the Bible with the particular emphasis on the Book of James, Jesus's sermon on the mount, and 1 Corinthians 13; and the original program of the Akron Christian Fellowship that produced the great 75% success rate and was reported to AAs by Rockefeller's agent Frank Amos. And 17 years after Dick began his work, each one of the well-springs called for further exploration of each particular element. The Oxford Group history in A.A. was no exception. Not only did Dick revise the book and publish his second edition; he also wrote a dozen articles about Oxford Group literature, the four absolutes, the series of "Letters," the special role of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, the real source of God "as we understood Him" in Shoemaker's writings and experiment of faith, details on the Morning Watch and Meditation, and a new title: "Making Known the History of Early A.A.'s Biblical Roots"--which told of the 29,300 historical items, hundreds of Oxford Group books, and wide variety of sources and source information that needed to be factored in by those who choose to investigate and truthfully report or summarize the real A.A. program. You will find The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d edition, just as fundamental to understanding A.A. as the original edition. However, as Dick's research grew, the Oxford Group began to fit more softly, surely, and precisely in the Akron program, the New York conversion genesis, the relation to other wellsprings in existence before and at the time OG ws founded, and the particularly interesting fact that though the Akron program bore little resemblance to the Oxford Group program, its charismatic leadership, its houseparties, its huge meetings, its political outreach, and its often agnostic flavors, Bill chose to veer away from the Group, from the Bible, from Jesus Christ, from the Salvation Army and the Missions, cease talking about the Oxford Group, start working with Sam Shoemaker on an actual Oxford Group approach, and then incorporate those ideas in the language and "result" from "taking" Bill's Twelve Steps. Put the Oxford Group book at the top of your A.A. history reading, and be sure to look for its context as part of the other sources contributing to A.A.'s early years, and spiritual program of recovery.

It's a very good account of the Oxford Group, from which AA evolved.
As this is likely a topic of interest to a small group, I was happy to find it.

I learned so much from this book by Dick B. When I first started reading it, I remembered my old sponsor of 34 years sober, as he told me his version of the story. I have since learned, in large part because of A.A. Historian Dick B.'s many books, that not only was my sponsor wrong, but that, I was being told many untrue stories about the connection between A.A and The Oxford Group in A.A. meetings as well. The people that have stated untrue stories as fact, simply haven't read any of Dick B.'s books. I am much more educated on the truth, and do not put much importance upon a passing along of stories of old. There are stories and there is truth. I suggest reading this book and all of Dick B.'s other titles to my fellow drunks, sponsees, as well as others. I have had the plerasure of meeting and talking to Dick, and the man walks his talk. Thank you so much for helping me with my walk with our Creator- it has solidified my sobriety ten fold.

Sincerely,

Rev. Stephen J. Murray, MCRC / NICD Director www.nicd.us

This small book packs a powerful punch not only in it's historical value but in it's messages of discernment, humility, and thoughtful soul-searching. Following the relationship of a Jesuit priest who was having his own spiritual doubts with that of a former stockbroker who helped to found Alcoholics Anonymous, one is drawn into the very human quest not only for friendship and acceptance from another human being but the added bonus of a profound insight in one's psyche of a Higher Power .

I found this book to be of interest in my addiction. It shows that the incurable can be greatly helped in restoring the alcoholic(addict) in returning to a productive life among his fellow man by following a spiritual path.

I read Fitzgerald's book while I was on a 30 day Ignatian retreat, journeying on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. I have been in the A.A. program for almost a year and somewhere along the line came to sense a connection between the spiritual program of A.A. and some of the roots of my own Catholic tradition. Just as, at 54 years of age, I found myself "ready" for the 30 day retreat, so did I find myself in January of this year "ready" for the gift of the 12 Steps for me. Like the protagonist in Francis Thompson's Hound of Heaven, God and the peace of sobriety FOUND ME. I knew that I had to understand more about how the 12 Step spirituality was in sync with my Catholic faith. This book on the correspondence and long friendship of Fr. Dowling and Bill W. gave me tremendous insight, knowledge and inspiration to help make my own 12 Step Walk one that resonates and deepens my own Catholic Christian journey. It is worth the read!!!

This story has its roots in the friendship of two remarkable men of different backgrounds and experiences. Although, both men thirsted for the 'Direction of God's will' in their lives, they approached it from vastly different experiences. Whether you come to these pages from A.A. or the contemplative prayer of Ignatiun spirituality, this is a must read. We are shown how ones weakness and sortcomings can become overcome and transended by following a 'few simple rules'. the openess of their letters is evidence of the trust and love these two men shared with each other.
I do think that a personal understanding of the Tweleve Steps and Twelve Traditions of A.A., as well as the exercises of St. Ignatius would allow a better grasp of this spiritual journey, but is in no way necessary to appreciate the remarkable transformation that these two men achieved with and through each other's friendship and guidance. Much can be absorbed by reviewing these letters and the simple set up that 'Fr. Bob' gives their communications in his explanatory prose. This book allows a hightened understanding of the foundations of A.A. and the rewards of a life based in 'Love and Service', as well as the true nature of discernment.

It is always fascinating to learn about the beginnings of the 12 step movement. From this book it is clear that Bill W. utilized the Ignatian discernment criteria for writing the Twelve and Twelve with the support and guidance provided by Fr. Ed Dowling at Bill's request. Learning that very early on Fr Dowling considered food addiction an issue was a help. The book is well-researched and provides important insights into recovery, sponsorship, and the frienship between these men. It is clear that Fr. Dowling had a profound influence on the movement and gave it practical as well as spiritual support. I can't help feeling grateful.

I'm a Bible student and belong to a Bible fellowship. I'm familiar with alcoholics, alcoholism, and A.A. from several viewpoints. And I've attended A.A. meetings. Though it is little if ever discussed in today's meetings, the Bible springs to your attention. You hear the Lord's Prayer recited at the close of most meetings. You hear Bible expressions like Thy will be done; love thy neighbor as thyself; faith without works is dead, Creator, Maker, Father, Spirit. Then you see them in A.A.'s basic text--the Big Book. If you dip more deeply, you see Dr. Bob's last major address to AAs when he spoke of the absolutely essential importance of the Book of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 to the early program. You find out that early AAs made a mandatory decision for Christ; they confessed faults in a manner covered by James 5:16; and there is talk of God's guidance. For this reason, this book has had great recognition. A police sergeant in Miami was using it to help alcoholics; and a former judge bought 12,000 copies to be distributed widely. Christian Book Distributors twice distributed large numbers. An oldtimer in Tennessee flew Dick to Nashville to tell people about the Bible roots; and he remarked that a copy of this book should be on every pastor's desk. A Roman Catholic priest who held a Ph.D. degree said the information helped fill the lacuna that existed as to A.A. history. Alcoholics Victorious and Overcomers Outreach, Inc. regularly featured the book at conventions and in catalogues. The faith-based NET Addiction Training Institute in Florida uses the book in its agenda. This has by all accounts made The Good Book and The Big Book the most popular and widely used A.A. history book that Dick B. has written. I distribute it as widely as I can. I give it away free to interested Christians. I support Dick's efforts to let alcoholics and addicts learn the Biblical roots and successes of early A.A.

There's a whole new rush to find out what early A.A.'s did with the Bible. I'm a Christian and a Bible student. And I'm delighted to see the trend. I've read Dick' book; and it think it meets the growing need for information that's been missing in 12 Step movements for many years now.

Buddhists have 4 noble truths based upon natural human suffering, being powerless over it, etc., and 8 paths to enlightenment that essentially say "you must change your life." AA historians are often people in the AA program, mostly who've been around for years, who collect old writings and documents, many of which were never kept very accurately in the early days of AA, and claim to know the "secret" of AA. But, given the 12 steps' strong correlation to Buddhists principles, maybe something Bill and Bob never got honest about was where they truly got the 12 steps from. After, all 4+8=12.

From the very beginning of his research as an active, recovered member of the A.A. fellowship, Dick had his eye on the Bible and its relationship to the fellowship he had joined. For a long time, he didn't see the relationship, nor hear about it. Then a young friend in our Bible fellowship, who was also an AA, told Dick there was information about the Bible roots in the A.A. book - DR BOB and the Good Oldtimers. Dick read it and then began his systematic, detailed, walk through the historical people and events the A.A. book had mentioned. Before he got to this title, he had examined Dr. Bob's library and found the thesis corroborated. Then he examined Anne Smith's Journal and found the same result. Then the Oxford Group and all of its books and verses that talked about the Bible. Then the real Akron story--The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous. And finally it was time to dive into the Bible itself and also the Big Book which contained A.A.'s basic text. And dive he did. He left no stone unturned to detail the many different ways in which A.A.'s Bible roots could be found embedded in its Big Book, Twelve Steps, Slogans, Traditions, and Fellowship. And because of this, the book became a favorite with Christians who wanted to know just how much the Bible had to do with A.A.. It also became a favorite with AAs who were beginning to wake up to the fact that a major part of their history had never before made it to the history books. The reasons are many. And six years ago, I tackled this book and briefly reviewed it. Meanwhile, it has gone through several editions, several printings, and thousands of hands. And it is the most important starting place today for a real understanding of what A.A. was before it became diluted through the ignorance of its current leaders as to the vital Biblical history and roots. Today, this book is part of Dick's 30 published titles, which includes 25 reference books that flesh out the picture, from many standpoints. I recommend this foundational book today with just as much enthusiasm as I did when I first heard of it and read it.

Every so often I find a literary treasure that bears reading more than once. This book by Dick B. is one of those books. I dug into it more times than I can remember, as I kept getting more out of it each time I opened it. This book made me into a sponge, soaking up everything within it. Not only are the words written the truth, but I found that the words enabled me to experience a more solid foundation for my own recovered existence. Trying to recover without this book is like trying to see yourself without a mirror- it is just as important to include this as essential reading. God gave us the Bible, Dr. Bob and Bill W. gave us the Big Book, and Dick B. has put it all together so we can be empowered through both. I include this as required reading for my sponsees, as it is vital they get this information so they can achieve a happy and lasting sobriety.

Sincerely,

Rev. Stephen J. Murray, MCRC / NICD Director www.nicd.us