Alcoholics Anonymous Books

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

This is a great history of the beginnings of A.A. and of the struggles of Dr. Bob to find a credible medical facility to help in the physical and spiritual recovery of alcoholics. Sr. Ignatia is one more non-alcoholic, like Dr. Silkworth and Fr. Ed Dowling, who serve at a pivotal point in the A.A. story. The author helps us see in Sr. Ignatia's own spiritual and personal biography how uniquely prepared and how providentially generous she was to be able to facilitate Dr. Bob's and A.A.'s program at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. I was intrigued with the seriousness that Sr. Ignatia, the doctors at St. Thomas and the Sisters of Charity in recognizing and attending to the underlying spiritual dimension of alcoholism. They were not the only ones to do this, as the book relates, but they helped bridge the moral/clinical gap that so many professionals and others, then as today, refuse(d) to accept.
I found Sr. Ignatia's life journey very instructive. She was a very diligent teacher of music, professional, and in a sense driven. She had her Waterloo experience in a near nervous breakdown. The doctor asked her if she wanted to be a dead music teacher or a live nun? Thence, began her service as Admissions Director at St. Thomas. She had learned first hand that living life involved ups and downs and that a "mysterious-to-us-at-times" Providence, Power Greater Than Ourselves, God would lead when we were ready to surrender. Living in that awareness allows one to take risks for the good. The story of Sr. Ignatia, Dr. Bob and early A.A. in Akron and Cleveland is a story of risk and fulfillment.

In the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous, the recovery rate was about seventy five per cent. Today, the recovery rate is less than one per cent. In the early days of AA, 1935 to 1945, the founders of AA (Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith and Sister Ignatia) operated under the concept that alcoholism was the indication of a spiritual illness. You first took away the alcohol, let the patient go through the withdrawal, and then they trained the alcoholic to be a spiritual person, both by learning to pray, (any religion would do) and then to pass your victory on to other suffering alcoholics. As AA grew, it began to be accepted in government run hospitals. And anything to do with the government has to have nothing to do with religion. So they began to treat alcoholics with psychiatry and downplayed the religious angle, hence the much lower recovery rate. Groups that use religion to treat alcoholics, like Teen Challenge, have an 80% recovery rate. When Sister Ignatia was helping to steer the recovery boat, along with Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob and the assent to Grace, recovery from alcoholism was possible for the first time on this planet. The other influence working against AA's religious methods was the birth, in the late 50's, of political correctness which fears surrender to religion (of ALL kinds) Reading this book about Sr. Ignatia has strenghthened my spirituality in AA. I just celebrated fourteen years sober.

For eighteen years now, I have been researching, analyzing, and pulling together all of the wellsprings of A.A. My area of focus and such expertise as I have concerns the original A.A. program in Akron which derived primarily from the United Christian Endeavor Movement of Dr. Bob's youth in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Akron program was summarized by Frank Amos in his report to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1938; and its ingredients are a dead ringer for the techniques of the Salvation Army, the Rescue Missions, the principles and practices of Christian Endeavor, and several of the Oxford Group life-changing ideas. But early Akron A.A. was a unit unto itself. On the East Coast, Bill Wilson was formulating his ideas for recovery from the conversion thesis of Dr. Carl Jung, his own conversion at the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission, Ebby Thacher's prior conversion there, and Bill's study of the monumental coverage of such conversion experiences by Professor William James. There is much more, and it is discussed in my latest title The Conversion of Bill W. And later, after the Akron program had earned its spurs as a Christian Fellowship, Wilson was commissioned to write a text which was supposed to describe the original program and flesh it out with testimonials by those who participated. Instead, Bill drew on all the sources in the East, plus some newcomer ideas from Richard Peabody, Sam Shoemaker, Dr. Silkworth, and New Thought writers. Out of this came the Big Book, published in 1939, and very much based on the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker of Calvary Episcopal Church. But Bill left out the rich Akron roots including the Bible, Quiet Time, Anne Smith's teaching and her journal, the Book of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13, and the devotionals like the Upper Room, the books AAs studied such as Drummond's The Greatest Thing in the World, plus what Bill was later to call the "doctrines and dogma" of the missions. The end results of the Wilson pen were a Big Book and Twelve Steps which neither resembled the Akron program nor the conversion picture painted so clearly for Bill by Jung, Hazard, Thacher, Silkworth, James, and even Shoemaker. Because of this jumble, I have spent most of my research time and 31 published titles covering the materials that were left out, are virtually unknown today, and yet produced the astonishing 75% success rate in Akron and the 93% rate in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, author Mary Darrah had been working up her materials on Sister Ignatia of St. Thomas Hospital in Akron. For me, the material seemed at first to be irrelevant to my work on the earliest A.A. But, from the beginning, I noticed the very important pieces of Akron history that Darrah had unearthed and placed in the Ignatia book. I appreciate them even more today. These included: (1) Specific mention of Anne Smith's Journal and its relevance to the Twelve Steps later penned by Wilson. (2) Her delightful phrase that Anne Smith served God and Scripture daily to those who supped at the Smith home each morning. (3) Her highlighting of the close relationship between Ignatia and Dr. Bob's wife Anne. (4) Her providing Ignatia's materials on hospitalization and recovery. While Darrah's history pertained to the period which began after the Big Book was published in 1939 (though Mary tries to make it otherwise), she seemed to grasp the importance of the all-but-forgotten history of Akron A.A. itself. She overrates Ignatia's part in the "founding," but she brings to light one of the major factors that branched forward in Akron during Bill's twelve or so years of major depression. For, in post-big book days, while Bill was suffering from immobilizing depression, it was the work of Clarence Snyder in Cleveland, Dr. Bob and Anne and Ignatia in Akron, Richmond Walker's writings, Father Pfau's writings, Ed Webster's writings, and the materials from local groups that changed the face of A.A. yet allowed it continued growth. By all accounts, Ignatia's contributions in this period were enormous. And I believe that if one looks at the very unusual AA of Akron pamphlets that were written by Evan W., commissioned by Dr. Bob, and circulated from the 1940's to this day, you can see that there was a hearty ember of Bible, Christianity, and devotional practices that was fanned and kept glowing during New York's dark years. And if you look at the original Akron program (1935-1938), the sources of that program, the surviving details as outlined in DR. BOB and The Good Oldtimers, the program at St. Thomas Hospital as spelled out by Darrah, and the Akron pamphlets, you can see a deeply religious foundation in the A.A. program which no one seemed to understand any better than Sister Ignatia. My recommendation? Look at A.A. from a chronological standpoint--not the tired and erroneous timelines still being circulated. Look at the Akron beginnings in Vermont and the program that emerged and produced the pioneer 40 in Akron and their cures. Look then at the beginnings in the East Coast and the original emphasis by Bill on conversion--sparked probably by his own grandfather Willie's conversion and healing of alcoholism. Then look at the Big Book program and Twelve Steps that Bill fashioned in 1938 and 1939 largely from the Oxford Group teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker. At that point, you have three major legs of our history. Then came Bill's long devastating depression, the new ideas and writings that sprang into being, coupled with Clarence Snyder's consistent championing of the Big Book, the Steps, the Bible, and the Four Absolutes and Ignatia's priceless work with beginners that did not diminish or detract from the Christian principles and Bible roots and did produce worthy results. The Darrah book is very valuable if one wishes to see the biography of A.A. from 1934 through 1955 when major and substantially different changes were placed in cement with A.A. Comes of Age, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and the St. Louis Convention. Good for Mary. See a summary of the foregoing picture, including Darrah's findings, Ignatia's role, the St. Thomas story, and the important Akron picture in the 1940's in my title Real Twelve Step Fellowship History. Dick B.

Mary Darrah deserves credit for tackling the biography of a tremendously overlooked personality from AA's past. The story of the little Nun is covered in detail. Darrah does a good job of getting the facts down.

However, this book suffers from stilted language and poor organization. The narrative conveys no passion or excitment, something I'm sure the writer must have possesed in order to cover such an obscure figure as Sister Ignatia. The chapters are not organizaed well and do not flow evenly into each other.
IT almost has the feel of one of those bad textbooks you had in high school.

However, it's still worth laying out the money for this book if you're desiring a better understanding of AA history.

Mary Darrah's book on Sr. Ignatia is an excellent historical document for all to read whether or not they are in recovery from alcohol or other drugs. This book is an accurate historical account of both the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous as well as the life of a compassionate yet tough woman.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the truth about AA history. It is interesting, informative and enlightening.

Mitchell K. (Author of HOW IT WORKED, The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio)

This is a must-have for anyone in recovery or a 12-step program. Serenity is the objective. This is just another great tool to help to achieve it.

This little meditation book is a great help for people in recovery seeking to build and maintain a firm spiritual foundation one day at a time. Using A.A.'s "take what you can use and leave the rest" rule of thumb will make this book of tremendous value to most anyone, regardless of religion (or lack thereof).

Fours years after its initial publication, I don't personally know of any AA member who still uses this as a daily reflection. I think AAWS just wanted to see if they could generate revenue by competing with the Hazelden 24 Hour A Day book. However, this turned out to be a weak effort.

THIS BOOK CAN BE USED YEAR ATER YEAR AFTER YEAR WITH A DAILY MEDITATION,THE A.A. WAY, WITH OVER 140 DIFFERENT SUBJECTS TO START YOUR DAY WITH OR BETTER YET TAKE IT TO BED

This book is helpful IF one also checks with one's sponsor about the recipes, as some of them are clearly NOT abstinent as we define it in the Cambridge Grey Sheet program. I have been abstinent for over 30 years on the CGS but would not be if I used all of the recipes in this book and spent all my time thinking about what concoction I was going to have next.

Greysheeters are very particular about their food. They are about as different from one another as individuals in any group can be. The recipes in this book show great variety, with attention to individual food choices, tastes, and preparation. This is a "we" program. All the recipes are within the parameters of the Greysheet Food Plan as written. There are wonderful vegetable recipes. If you have questions about the Greysheet Food Plan or finding a Sponsor, there are resources here to get a Sponsor and find out about both Phone and In-Person Meetings.

I Love it! I love my recovery from compulsive overeating. I love to know what other winners are eating. Thank you for truth in recipes.

Thank you for this "Thinking Cap." Whenever I want to learn about low-carb, weighed and measured meals, for my Greysheet Food Plan, I put on this "thinking cap". "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail," is an old saying in our 12-Step Recovery Rooms. This cookbook puts the book right in front of me, with ingredients, amounts, and new ideas on an old theme -- eating right the Greysheet way! The recipes are direct from the members of Greysheet Anonymous. What better source to have a collective memory. Why we do this - and what we do. It has learning sources as well. Thank you so much! Abstinent & Grateful

Here's a book that meets my need for a simple, progressing, informative approach to studying the Good Book the way early AAs did. It briefly covers early A.A. history. Then it dives into a very valuable approach to studying the Bible to learn about God, the Bible itself, Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the renewed mind walk, and the important Christian principles and practices. There is a particular focus on the Creator's personal name--Yahweh. The roots and documentation in the Bible of this important name are clearly laid out in the text and the Appendix. Sometimes people are detoured from the Bible in recovery by expressions such as "I couldn't understand it." "I can never get beyond the begats." "I can't deal with the "Thee" and "Thou" language." "A.A. is spiritual but not religious." "You can believe anything you want about God or not god or no God at all." "The word 'God' scares away newcomers." Yet many want to learn about, use, and understand the new birth, the power of God, prayer, the Bible, and the Christian precepts that abound in A.A. history. It fits well with Dick's The Good Book and The Big Book and his later title The Good Book-Big Book Guide Book. It's a great tool I can use in recovery meetings, and do.

ON CULTIVATING TOLERANCE
By Dr. Bob Smith
July 1944, AA Grapevine©

During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but often acquire finer characteristics and attitudes as well. One of these is tolerance. Tolerance expresses itself in a variety of ways: in kindness and consideration toward the man or woman who is just beginning the march along the spiritual path; in the understanding of those who perhaps have been less fortunate in education advantages; and in sympathy toward those whose religious ideas may seem to be at great variance with our own.

I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circumference and approach our destination by one of many routes. To say that one spoke is much better than all the other spokes is true only in the sense of its being best suited to you as an individual. Human nature is such that without some degree of tolerance, each one of us might be inclined to believe that we have found the best or perhaps the shortest spoke.

Without some tolerance, we might tend to become a bit smug or superior - which, of course, is not helpful to the person we are trying to help and may be quite painful or obnoxious to others. No one of us wishes to do anything that might act as a deterrent to the advancement of another - and a patronizing attitude can readily slow up this process.

Tolerance furnishes, as a by-product, a greater freedom from the tendency to cling to preconceived ideas and stubbornly adhered-to opinions. In other words, it often promotes an open-mindedness that is vastly important - is, in fact, a prerequisite to the successful termination of any line of search, whether it be scientific or spiritual.

These, then, are a few of the reasons why an attempt to acquire tolerance should be made by each one of us.

A while ago I wrote a brief review of this book. Then I spotted a review which talked about "tolerance" but never even seemed to mention this book or its contents. But time marches on. Since my first review, there has been an intense new interest in A.A.'s Biblical roots and history. Here are a few of the things that have risen on the scene: (1) Regular heritage seminars each year by Dick B. at the Wilson House where Bill Wilson was born and where he went to Sunday School and then nearby lived with his grandfather Griffith. (2) Several nationwide A.A. history conferences sprang up where the real roots were presented by Dick B., by Dr. Bob's son Smitty, by Ray G.--archivist at Dr. Bob's Home, and by several veteran A.A. women who had not been called on before. (3) Dick was asked to speak at Archives 2000, the event at the International Convention in Minneapolis. His topic--the roots of A.A. (4) Several websites, including four of Dick's own, began posting all kinds of important truths about the real early A.A. and pulling no punches when it came to accurate reporting. Some included NICD, aabibliography, anonymousone.com, mental health matters, silkworth.net, Bible Study Notes, and others. (5) More excellent studies by people like Mel B., Hartigan, Tom White, Susan Cheever, Nan Robertson, Raphael, and the biographers of Silkworth and Lois Wilson. (6) The actual Bill Wilson autobiography that had gathered dust for years was covered in Dick B.'s Turning Point and then published in full by Hazelden. There have been lots more appearances of history. But all these gave rise to the need for a guidebook that would tell people where to start as they picked up their Bibles and wanted their studies to bear the same kind of fruit the early AAs plucked from this "absolutely essential" source. Dick has written other titles on this subject since, but this book stands as a one-stop start on A.A. history and the Bible AAs read and you can read--as I have.

I've long awaited this book. 9 months to be exact. It was to have been a manual for studying the Bible within A.A. and other 12 Step programs. It was delayed because of the author's surgery. At the end, it became a review of what early AAs said about Bible study, about what they studied in the Bible, about what the Bible itself is, about the Bible's statements as to our Creator and His name Yahweh and His son Jesus Christ, and then about what it has to offer in terms of releases we all need--from fear, guilt, shame, failure, despair, loneliness, and so on. The appendices are specific, scholarly studies of God's name Yahweh, of the parts of the Bible Dr. Bob considered essential, and about success in A.A. yesterday compared to today. Very useful!

I know how much it meant to be when he located and acquired this important historical A.A. treasure. With the help of Dr. Bob's daughter (Sue Smith Windows), A.A.'s archivist (Frank Mauser), and Nell Wing, Dick was able to procure from the A.A. Archives in New York, the 64 page, partly handwritten, partly typewritten book kept by Anne Smith from 1933 to 1939. There was nothing like it. It spoke in detail about what the A.A. pioneers read, did, and believed. She said the Bible ought to be the main Source book of all. She recommended books on love, life-changing, and Christian life. She detailed the 28 Oxford Group ideas that Dick found to have been influential on AAs. She spoke simply and eloquently about how to pray to God, what to study in the Bible, how to apply the Oxford Group principles, how to help drunks, and so on. Later, Bill discovered from eye witnesses that Anne had shared the contents of this journal during morning Quiet Times at the Smith home. She did this during Wilson's stay in the summer of 1935; and she imbued them all with the richness of her faith, the extent of her love, and the availability of God for help, strength, healing, forgiveness, and love. One verse she quoted quite often was "God is love," from 1 John 4:8. This is a lady the ladies should get to know to see the importance of the women who helped early AAs. This is the lady that all AAs, men and women, should get to know in order to see how simple the principles and practices were that Bill Wilson was to embody in his Big Book and Twelve Steps. The original manuscript has never been published to date--and for a variety of reasons. But this is a readable, manageable, inspiring "must read" for people recovered and still in recovery. Especially for believers, Bible students, and teachers.

Dick B. here presents part of his ten years of research on early A.A. history. But the Anne Smith contribution is tops because the material is unavailable elsewhere. The original copy was obtained from A.A. with support of Dr. Bob's daughter and consent of Trustees. But it can't be seen or republished.That's the top value of this history. On careful reading, I found that the order of presentation is that of the relation of the Twelve Steps to Anne's writing in her journal as the early years moved on. It's been a lost treasure. Dick was the historian who brought it to light as a real resource for understanding the Alcoholics Anonymous roots. Good for reading. Good for understanding. Good for Christians like me.

This book was well written and documented. It has much historical and spiritual value. My disappointment in the book was that it did not contain the contents of Anne Smith's Journal as a whole. It is an editorialized document written about Anne Smith's Journal, much in the form of a term paper. I did enjoy reading the excerpts from her journal and would have liked to read it for myself. One gets the sense of who and what Anne Smith was from this book, however the total effect is broken up by the many outside points and notations. I would like to see a copy of the original journal as a part of this book. I think that this would complete the work. I understand that the journal by itself is not a complete document. The combination of the two would be a excellant resource for spiritual growth and AA history.

I thought this CD set was a good deal! The only other version of this Audio CD set I found cost more than double!.

For the money this is a great deal. And while the reader did not have a lot of emotion, he was clear and easy to understand. Good packaging and product labels make this product a winner all around

This was exactly the product i was looking for, and reasonably priced for 5 CD's. My only complaint -- the reader is not very dynamic -- sounds like he's never read the book, but is that worth getting a resentment over?

This is a great book, it provides a detailed history of Bill and Lois's lives complete with black and white photos, small side notes and cute anecdotes. You really get a very strong picture of Bill's upbringing and his family life as well as the history of his disease and how it affected his entire career and friends and family. A great biography.

It is amazing how much valuable information the author has packed into this short 64pp volume. And the pictures, many of which have not appeared elsewhere in the hagiography of Bill Wilson, make this volume one of a kind. Although the publisher indicates that it is directed to the Ala-Teen and Ala-Tot audiences, those 10 to 14, this 71+ multi-diagnosed addict and alcoholic recommends it to those with the diseases of addiction and alcoholism, as well as those surrounding we chosen ones. ["I am grateful that God chose me to be an alcoholic and an addict."]

I was particularly gratified when the author correctly states how the name "Alcoholics Anonymous" came to be identified with Bill W.'s organization; e.g. Cleveland, the "Brewmaster", adopted the name from the book, and the larger organization took the name from Cleveland. White also gives Bill's drinking buddy and sponsor, Ebby Thatcher, proper credit for Bill's last drink. White also points out that Bob Smith did not recover on-the-spot from talking with Bill Wilson, but instead went directly to a bender.

White does shy away from diagnosing Bill's bi-polar disorder, but does not omit the symptoms.

This reader hopes that the author will turn his eye, and add succinct biographies of Mrs. Marty Mann and Lois Wilson to what promises to be a most worthwhile series. [Mann, who like Clarence Snyder eschewed anonymity, was responsible for more persons coming to AA than the Saturday Evening Post article.]

I will use this volume in the future with my more recalcitrant pigeons.

There is no better book that I have ever read that will help a person to understand their addiction to alcohol, and the wide reach of the addictions impact on all aspects of your life personally, with those you love and who love you, and with the world at large.
Despite the Judeo-Christian principles that the founder's of this organization have used as their spiritual reference, it still will work for those with or without a 'faith' based in any culture.
I personally have been amazed to see the complete transformation of people -- over time, often a great amount of time -- that this book and this organization has facilitated.
With the (as suggested) 'least possible organization' AA has found a place in almost every community in the world. No other organization can make that claim.

Title: Alcoholism is a Disease.

Alcoholism causes moral problems ---but it is not CAUSED by a lack of "morality". Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism. The "Under the Influence" book clearly explains in scientific detail the four-stage physical disease of alcoholism. Understanding the physical part of the disease SO much helps in trying to get and stay sober. And learning about the disease of alcoholism is also essential in educating children about the high hereditary risk. Kids respond so much better to learning medical facts than to lectures on 'what's good for them'. (As the co-founder of A.A. Dr. Bob said to Bill W., "don't lecture them, Bill. Just give them the medical facts".)

this classic explains recovery from A-Z. By honestly following the suggestions within these pages, a person can truly recover and regain their life back. You won't find easy answers in this book, because recovery takes a lot of work- this book points that out many times.

I purchased the AA Big Book for an inmate at Gus Harrison Correctional Facility, he did not receive the book, he received a CD. It has taken this long for me to get the CD back .... it was suppose to be a Book not a CD.

Can I return it and get the book?

Julia Caplett

This is appears to be a bootleg copy of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous published by AAWS.

This is not the REAL book that Alcoholics Anonymous uses in it's program of recovery.

Please make your purchase from the legitimate publisher, AAWS or AA that is also listed on this site.