Louisville, KY AA Step Study

"Indecision with the passing of time becomes decision." Bill W.

Here lies a Hampshire Grenadier

Who caught his death

Drinking cold small beer

A good soldier is ne'er forgot

Whether he dieth by musket

Or by pot.


Actual Tombstone:

Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier,

Who caught is death by drinking cold small beer,

Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall

And when ye're hot drink Strong or none at all.

An honest soldier never is forgot

Whether he die by musket or by Pot.


Tombstone of Thomas Thetcher, 1738-1764

    • Find out all you can about the newcomer 90:1  

    • Don't deal with him when he is very drunk 90:3  

    • Never force yourself on him 90:4  

    • Place the Big Book where he can see it 90:4  

    • Advise the family to avoid hysterical pleas, nor should they tell your story 90:4  

    • Can you discard the feeling that you are dealing only with habit, with stubbornness, or a weak will? If this  presents difficulty, re-reading chapters two and three, where the alcoholic sickness is discussed at length  might be worthwhile 140:1  

    • Tell him about your own drinking habits, symptoms and experiences 91:3  

    • Encourage him to speak of his drinking 91:3  

    • Do not yet tell him what you did to recover 91:3  

    • Be careful not to moralize or lecture 91:3  

    • Next he can be assured that you do not intend to lecture, moralize, or condemn…. At this point, it might  be well to explain alcoholism, the illness. 142:1  

    • Describe yourself as an alcoholic 91:4  

    • Tell him about your struggles to stop drinking 92:0  

    • Show him - from your own experiences - of the mental twists which lead to the first drink, thereby  preventing the normal functioning of the will power. 92:0  

    • Don’t initially refer to the Big Book. 92:1  

    • Be careful not to brand him as an alcoholic. Let him draw his own conclusion. 92:1  

    • If he thinks he can still control his drinking, tell him that that is possible if he is not too alcoholic, but if  he is, there is little chance he can recover by himself. 92:1  

    • Speak of alcoholism as an illness. 92:2  

    • Tell him about the conditions of the mind (mental obsession) and of the body (physical allergy) that  characterize the disease. 92:2  

    • Remember to focus mainly on your personal experience. 92:2  

    • Do not be afraid to talk of the hopelessness of alcoholism – because you offer a solution. 92:2  

    • Let him ask you how you got well. 93:0  

    • After satisfying yourself that your man wants to recover and that he will go to any extreme to do so, you  may suggest a definite course of action. 142:4  

    • Tell him exactly what happened to you – stressing the spiritual feature freely. 93:0  

    • Make it clear that he does not have to agree with your concept of God. 93:0  

    • Tell him he is free to choose any conception (of God) he likes. The main thing is that he be willing to  believe that there is a Power greater than himself – and that he try to live by spiritual principles. 93:0  

    • Use everyday language to describe the spiritual principles you live by. 93:1  

    • Let him see that you are not there to instruct him in religion. 93:2  

    • Outline the program of action. 94:0  

    • Make it clear that he is under no obligation to see you again if he doesn't want to. 94:1  

    • Disturb him about the true nature of the disease. The more hopeless he feels, the better – as that might  make him more willing to follow suggestions. 94:1  

    • If he gives reasons why he need not follow all of the program - do not contradict his defensive views.  94:2 

    • Tell him you once felt as he does, but you doubt you would have made much progress had you not  taken action 94:2  

    • Tell him about the fellowship and offer him a new Big Book 94:2 (Do not lend him your copy although  the Book suggests you do so, as you will need it to work with others) 

    • When the man is presented with this volume it is best that no one tell him he must abide by its  suggestions. The man must decide for himself. 144:2  

    • Give him a chance to think it over. 95:1  

    • Do not talk down to him. 95:1  

    • Show him how the steps (“spiritual tools”) worked for you. 95:1  

    • Offer him friendship and fellowship. 95:1  

    • Tell him if he wants to get well, you will do anything to help. 95:1  

    • Do not act as his banker or his nurse (or limo driver, marital advisor, etc. - we can only carry the message,  not the drunk) 95:2  

    • Do not push or prod – if he is to find God, the desire must come from within. 95:3  

    • If he thinks he can “do the job” another way, encourage him to follow his own conscience. 95:3  

    • Remember, we have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked for us. 95:4  

    • Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. 96:1  

    • If he is not responsive, search out another alcoholic desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you  have to offer. 96:1  

    • Do not waste time chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. Spending too much time on any  one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to recover. 96:1  

    • On the second visit, and he is ready to go through the Twelve Steps, offer to give him practical advice on  how to do so. 96:2  

    • Use discretion and get your family’s approval when taking him into your home (or giving him money).  96:3  

    • Even if he doesn't want the Program, offer it to his family (also, Al-Anon, Al-Ateen). 97:3  

    • Assure him that if he cries for money, shelter, relationships, etc. before conquering alcohol, that he is on  the wrong track. 98:0  

    • Seeing your attempt to understand and help, some men will try to take advantage of your kindness. If you are sure your man does not want to stop, he may as well be discharged, the sooner the better. You are not  doing him a favor by keeping him on 141:1  

    • Make sure be understands that he can recover in spite of anyone (spouse, family, etc.). – he only needs to  trust in God, clean house and work with others. 98:3  

    • The prospect must explain his “new path” to his family and apply the steps in his home. 98:3 He must  avoid argument and fault finding at home. 98:3  

    • He should continue to demonstrate that he can be sober, considerate and helpful in the home, regardless  of what anyone says or does. 99:1  

    • And, if he falls below this standard, he must repair the damage immediately. 99:1  

    • Remind him that “The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and  fear.” 145:3  

    • If there be divorce or separation, there should be no undue hast to get back together. He must be sure of  his recovery, and if their relationship is to be resumed, it must be on a better basis. When the time for  returning to the home has come, it will be apparent to both parties. 99:2  

    • Assure him that he absolutely can recover even if he doesn’t get his family back. 99:3 And, that his  recovery does not depend upon people, but on his relationship with God. 99:3/100:0  

    • Walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. ( = apply the steps to your everyday life) 100:1  

    • Do not participate in family quarrels. 100:2 Point out that his defects of character are not going to  disappear overnight. DEMONSTRATE that you have entered a period of spiritual growth. 100:2  

    • Assure him that remaining spiritually fit enables them to do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed  to do. 100:4 

    • Tell him if he cannot resist the challenges and temptations of everyday life, that there is something the  matter with his spiritual status. (= not applying the steps to his everyday life) 101:1  

    • When going into places where people are drinking, be sure to have a legitimate reason for being there.  Ask oneself is there any good social, business or personal reason for going to there, or is it just to steal a  little vicarious (second-hand/indirect) pleasure from the atmosphere? 101:4  

    • Be sure you are on solid spiritual ground (= working the steps on a daily basis) and that your motive in  going is thoroughly good (see previous questions) before going into such a situation. Think of what you can  bring to it, rather than what you may get out of it. And, if you are on shaky ground - don’t go. Instead,  you’d better go find another alcoholic to work with. 102:0  

    • Remember their job now is to be in a place where they may be of maximum helpfulness to others – to  never hesitate to go anywhere if they can be of service to others. Remember, God will keep you unharmed  if your motives are honest and good. 102:2  

    • Never show intolerance or hatred for drinking as an institution. That spirit might alienate some who need  to hear our message, but will not. 103:1 We will be of little use is our attitude is one of bitterness or  hostility. 103:2  

    • Remember, our problems were of our own making. We have stopped fighting everybody and everything  – we must in order to remain in this Fourth Dimension of 

    Existence. 103:3Add an answer to this item.

     Among the many points Bill Wilson makes over and over in the Big Book is that it is the responsibility, the obligation of those who are living in the solution as the  result of the steps to approach the newcomer or someone who is struggling or  suffering. The attitude found in today’s recovery culture of “if they want it bad  enough, they’ll come and ask me for help” is nowhere to be found in the Big Book.

     

    Or, how about giving phone numbers to newcomers without taking theirs and making the first contact yourself? Clearly we expect too much from the newcomer. How many of us when new were able to pick up the phone and talk to a total  stranger about our problems, fears or God? 


    So, what follows is a partial list of references to “making the approach”. As this is a work in progress, we welcome any additions you may find. 


    1. “More often than not, it is imperative that a man's brain be cleared before he is approached, as he has then a better chance of understanding and accepting what we have to offer.”(Doctor’s Opinion, pg. xxiv) 


    2. “He had come to pass his experience along to me” (Bill’s Story, pg. 9:7) 


    3. “That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about” (There Is A Solution, Pg. 18:5) 


    4. “After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again.” (There Is A Solution, Pg. 19:0) 


    5. “When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools  laid at our feet.” (There Is A Solution, Pg. 25:1) 


    6. “This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics!” (Working With Others pg. 89:1) 


    7. “You can easily find some by asking a few doctors, ministers, priests or hospitals.” (Working With Others pg. 89:1) 


    8. “You need this information to put yourself in his place, to see how you would like  him 

    to approach you if the tables were turned.” (Working With Others pg. 90:2) 


    9. Approach through a doctor or an institution is a better bet. (Working With Others  pg. 91:1) 


    10.When your man is better, the doctor might suggest a visit from you. (Working  With Others pg. 91:2)


    11. Call on him while he is still jittery. (Working With Others pg. 91:2) 


    12. Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others…(Working With Others pg. 102:2) 


    13. …so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. (Working With Others  pg. 102:2)


    14. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. (Working With Others pg. 102:2) 


    15.When we see a man sinking into the mire that is alcoholism, we give him first aid…(The Family Afterwards Pg. 132:1) 


    16. …and place what we have at his disposal. (The Family Afterwards Pg. 132:1) 


    17. Following his discharge, we contacted him. (To Employers 139:1) 


    18.We think this method of approach will accomplish several things. (To Employers 148:3) 


    19. The other day an approach was made to the vice president of a large industrial concern. He remarked: "I'm glad you fellows got over your drinking.” (To Employers 148:4) 


    20. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics  Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet (A Vision For You pg. 153:2) 


    21. In the chapter "Working With Others" you gathered an idea of how we approach  and aid others to health. (A Vision For You pg. 153:3) 


    22. Every few days this doctor suggests our approach to one of his patients.

    For quite a number of years, I would read "Bill's Story" from the Big Book and read page 7 without a second thought. Not any more! 


    "Under the so-called Belladonna Treatment my brain cleared" is written on page 7 by Bill describing his treatment at Towns Hospital. What was the Belladonna Treatment? 


    The Belladonna Treatment was developed by Charles Towns a little after the beginning of the 20th Century as a treatment for addiction and alcoholism and by 1910 had become known as the Towns-Lambert treatment, as a Dr. Alexander Lambert, previously a physician to President Teddy Roosevelt, joined Charles Towns at Towns Hospital in New York City. The main ingredient was the deliriant atropa belladonna, also called deadly nightshade. Additional "deliriants" (chemicals used to cause delirium) were used as well. 


    Dr. Lambert described the belladonna treatment as follows in a 1912 article "Care and Control of the Alcoholic:" 


    "Briefly stated, it is the hourly dosage of a mixture of belladonna, hyoscyamus [also a deliriant], and zanthoxylum. The mixture is given every hour, day and night, for about fifty hours. There is also given about every twelve hours a vigorous catharsis of C.c. pills and blue mass (used to help with bowel elimination). At the end of the treatment, when it is evident that there are abundant bilious stools, castor oil is given to clean out thoroughly the intestinal tract. If you leave any of the ingredients out, the reaction of the cessation of desire is not as clear cut as when the three are mixed together. The amount necessary to give is judged by the physiologic action of the belladonna it contains. When the face becomes flushed, the throat dry, and the pupils of the eyes dilated, you must cut down your mixture or cease giving it altogether until these symptoms pass. You must, however, push the mixture until these symptoms appear, or you will not obtain a clear cut cessation of the desire". 


    Some have referred to the belladonna treatment as a "puke and purge" treatment. 


    Depending upon the patient, a variety of additional interventions might be attempted. Chloral hydrate might be used initially to put the patient to sleep if he was still feeling the effects of his spree. Paraldehyde might be used. If the person was violent or thrashing, strychnine might be injected. Finally, older alcoholics and those in a weakened condition would have with milk one or two ounces of whiskey up to four times a day, Bill W. wrote that "hydrotherapy and mild exercise helped much." 


    A complete treatment for an alcoholic would last no longer than 8 days. 

    Alcoholics Anonymous is far more than a “12 Step” program. It is a spiritual program comprised of spiritual principles grouped in “12’s”. First, we are given the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous 

    which provide the suffering alcoholic with clear-cut directions for recovery from the fatal malady of alcoholism. We are then given the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous which establish the boundaries for the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous; the way it lives and grows. We are then presented with the Twelve Concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous, the means by which A.A. serves suffering alcoholics around the world. These make up the Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous: Recovery, Unity and Service. So in reality, A.A. is a “36 Step” Program. 


    But, if A.A. is made up in sets of “Twelve”, why only Eleven Chapters? The rest of our Basic Text is comprised of the stories of hopeless alcoholics who adopted this Program as a way of life and 

    recovered to live a full and useful life. Consider this: Perhaps “Chapter Twelve” in the Recovery section of your Big Book will be your story. So, how then, will it read? Because it is now up to you to write that story. 


    Will you be one of those willing to be humble enough to become a student and practitioner of this Big Book, thereby living a life of purpose? If so, you will make the difference in the lives of so very many people as you travel through life, just as Bill W. and Dr. Bob did. 


    Or, will you be one of those betting their very lives on Fellowship alone? Those who just go to meetings, hoping against hope that you will be the exception to the rule. That you will not be one of the many – the unfortunate statistical majority - who fail to remain sober? Those who return to the miserable life of just living for the next drink, maybe never to return to A.A. for another chance. 


    Will you be one of those who believes they are above all this “Fellowship”, “Program”, “Steps” and “God stuff”? If you are one of those, you very likely will never see this page. But, if you are reading this, then perhaps you realize that the study you have now embarked upon may produce for you that which it did for the authors of this Book. So why not give it a try? Yes, it will mean some inconvenience and interruptions in your daily life. But, if you realize that you drank to change the way you thought and the way you felt - and accept that option is no longer available to you - isn’t it worth the time and effort to see if this Program might not do all those things – and more – for you? To be open to the possibility that it might be the Solution to all your problems?

    CONSIDER THIS……. 


    One thing we know is that when we arrive at A.A., we will serve a purpose. What purpose will your presence demonstrate? Will yours be one of success - or of failure? 


    We paid a hell of a price to get here. Shouldn’t we be willing to make a reasonable investment to stay here? It’s far less painful! Rarely have we seen a person fail to find Spiritual, Mental and Physical Harmony as well as Emotional Sobriety who has carefully followed the directions in the Big Book. Try it. You just might like the results. 


    So remember – please: 


    WE RECOVER BY THE STEPS WE TAKE, NOT THE MEETINGS WE MAKE!!! 


    IT IS MUCH EASIER TO STAY SOBER THAN IT IS TO GET SOBER!!!


    Now back in the 1930's (the Phenomenon of Craving) was part of the Doctor's Opinion. In the 1930's  they knew very little about metabolism. Today they know lots about it.  


    Metabolism:  

    1) Today they know that if you put anything in your system such as a piece of bread or a piece of  beefsteak, that the mind and body recognizes what that is. And…  

    2) Certain organs in the body begin to produce some things called enzymes.  

    3) These enzymes attack that food and begin to break it down and separate it into useable and non useable items.  

    4) What the body can use such as the proteins, amino acids and vitamins - the body will retain.  

    5) What it can't use it will dissipate through the urinary and intestinal tract.  


    They call that metabolism. Today they have proven that The Doctor's Opinion is no longer just an  opinion, its actually true. And just to stress the obvious: this is not “official” A.A. information. A.A.  won't get involved into why we're allergic, because that “outside issue” might bring controversy. But  this information, which was presented a few years ago by members of the medical community, is so  interesting and has such depth and meaning for people like us, I think we would be remiss if we didn't  look at it. So let's look at it for just a moment.  


    Take for example, the group of “normal/social” drinkers who are able to drink “safely”.  They are at ease with alcohol. They take a drink or two, and their mind and body sense it, the  enzyme production starts, and the enzymes attack the alcohol

      

    1st Stage: The enzymes breaks it down into acetaldehyde, 

    2nd Stage: then to diacetic acid,  

    3rd Stage: then to acetone.  

    Final Stage: In the final stages it becomes a simple carbohydrate made up of  water, sugar, and carbon dioxide.  

    - The water would be dissipated through the urinary and  

    intestinal tract  

    - The sugar is a form of energy which the body will burn and store the  

    excess as fat to be used at a later date  

    - The carbon dioxide will be dissipated through the lungs.

      

    In the normal social drinker this takes place at the rate of approximately one ounce per hour. While it varies with different people, the average seems to be about one ounce per hour. And if they don't drink more than an once per hour >>> they can't get drunk. Their body metabolizes it, burns it up and gets rid of it at that rate. Very seldom do you see a social drinker consuming more than an once per hour. If you're with one of them and they're drinking more than an ounce an hour, you better get out of the way. Cause they're going to puke on you after a while. They'll either go to sleep or they'll puke on you, one of the two, every time. 


    Now, lets look at the Alcoholic, the one who cannot drink with impunity - he's at dis-ease  with alcohol. And that separates us from the norm.

     

    When alcoholics put it in our body, the same thing happens. Their mind and body sense it,  the enzyme production starts, and the enzymes attack the alcohol,,  

    l st Stage: break it down to acetaldehyde,  

    2nd Stage: then to diacetic acid,  

    3rd Stage: then to acetone.  

    final stage: - - - - - - - - - - ->>It seems as though, in our bodies, the enzymes  necessary to break it down from acetone to the simple carbohydrate, are not as they  are in the body of the nonalcoholic. Therefore it stays in our body for a longer period  of time as acetone. And: It is proven today, that acetone ingested into the  human system that remains there for an appreciable period of time, will 

    produce an actual physical craving for more of the same.  


    This shows how alcohol is not completely processed through the alcoholic's body, and the  resulting havoc it creates.  

                                   

    In a non-alcoholic's body, that acetone goes through that final stage of conversion to simple carbohydrate so rapidly that the craving never occurs.  

        ---- In our body it stays there long enough,  

        thereby allowing that craving to develop – which  

        demands a second drink….etc  


    The Alcoholic’s acetone level goes up - and if the acetone is what causes the craving, then the craving becomes harder with a second drink.  


    Now you put in the third, and the acetone increases, causing the craving to intensify, and that  demands a fourth >>>>>>as the acetone level increases with each drink, the craving  becomes greater and greater and greater  


    Because the more you drink, the greater the craving……it’s just endless once it starts.  


    And , we know that Alcoholism is a progressive disease. This is true whether we are drinking, or sober twenty some odd years. In relation to the physical aspect, for each year that we grow a little older in sobriety, our bodies grow older too. And as the body ages, the production of enzymes needed to break down alcohol, slows down as well. If an alcoholic picks up a drink after twenty years of sobriety, the acetone that will now remain longer in his system will trigger stronger cravings than he has ever felt before. The drinking will be much worse and it will be much harder to stop if he so desires. We do not pick up  where we left off; we pick up as if we never stopped.  


    So not only do we have a physical illness, but it is progressive because of:  

    (a) damage to the body, and also  

    (b) due to the aging factor.  


    Now that we can see that, we can hopefully accept the fact that we can no longer successfully drink alcohol. Until we could see this we always felt there had to be a way we could drink without getting drunk, and it damn near kills us. But now that we can see this - we can more readily accept the fact that we can no longer drink like “other people.”  

    PREFACE 

    (4th edit. p. xi) The Doctor's Opinion was written by Dr. William D. Silkworth. ______________________________ 

    PREFACE to 2nd edition 

    (4th edit. p. xv) during a talk between New York stockbroker Bill Wilson and  Akron physician Dr. Bob, who first met on May 12, 1935. 

    (p. xvi) the alcoholic friend in contact with the Oxford Group was Ebby Thacher. (p. xvi) the New York specialist on alcoholism was Dr. William D. Silkworth. (p. xvi) the broker was Bill Wilson. 

    (p. xvi) the Akron physician was Dr. Bob Smith. 

    (p. xvii) AA No. 3 was Bill Dotson in Akron, his sobriety date was June 26, 1935,  Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob first visited him on June 28, 1935. Very first case,  unsuccessful, was Eddie Riley. 

    (p. xvii-iii) the noted clergyman was Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick. (p. xviii) the editor of Liberty magazine was Fulton Oursler. 

    (p. xviii) John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gave the dinner. 

    (p. xviii) Jack Alexander wrote the article in the Saturday Evening Post magazine. ______________________________ 

    THE DOCTOR'S OPINION (began on page 1 in the first edition of the Big Book) (4th edit. p. xxv-xxxii) the well known doctor was Dr. William D. Silkworth, who  worked at Towns Hospital in New York City. 

    (p. xxv) the patient he regarded as hopeless was Bill Wilson. 

    (p. xxvii) "many years' experience" meant nine years that Dr. Silkworth had been  there.

    (p. xxvii) "one of the leading contributors to this book" referred to Bill Wilson. 

    (p. xxviii) "We believe and so suggested a few years ago" in an article in the  Lancet in 1937. 

    (p. xxxi) the man brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism was Hank  Parkhurst. His story "The Unbeliever" appeared in the 1st ed. 

    (p. xxxi) the man who had hidden in a barn was Fitz Mayo. His story in the BB is  "Our Southern Friend." 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 1. BILL'S STORY 

    (p. 1) Winchester Cathedral is in the south of England, about 50 miles southwest  of London, and only 15 to 20 miles inland from several of the major southern  ports. This moment of awareness of God's immediate presence was a central  motif in Bill's story, see also pages 10 and 12. 

    (p. 1) the Hampshire Grenadier whose tombstone Bill Wilson saw was Thomas  Thetcher. 

    (p. 2) Law courses at Brooklyn Law School, 250 Toralemon St., Brooklyn, New  York. 

    (p. 2) Bill and Lois Wilson roared off on a Harley Davidson motorcycle in April,  1925. 

    (p. 3) they worked for a month on Ella Goldfoot's farm, in Scotia, New York, near  Connecticut. 

    (p. 3) "the remonstrances of my friends" ?? names unknown 

    (p. 3) contracted golf fever in Spring 1929. 

    (p. 4) the exclusive golf course was Ekwanok Country Club. 

    (p. 4) the stock whose symbol on the stock ticker was XYZ-32, was Penick &  Ford, which tumbled from 52 to 32 in a single day. The great stock market crash  which occurred in October 1929, ushered in the long era of the Great Depression,  in which the U.S. economy fell apart, and people all over the country found  themselves without jobs. 

    (p. 4) the friend in Montreal was Richard O. "Dick" Johnson, who worked at  Greenshields & Co., a brokerage house. 

    (p. 4) "By the following spring" meant 1930. 

    (p. 4) His wife's parents were Dr. Clark and Matilda Hoyt Burnham. (p. 4) Bill's wife Lois worked in Macy's department store.

    (p. 5) Bill formed a group to buy stock in 1932: A. Wheeler & F. Winans. 

    (p. 5) "I had written lots of sweet promises": On October 20, 1928, Bill wrote a  pledge to quit drinking in the family Bible, with additional pledges written in the  Bible on Thanksgiving Day, in January 1929, and on September 3, 1930. 

    (pp. 6-7) "A doctor came with a heavy sedative," which Bill Wilson began  combining with alcohol the next day. Early Spring 1934. The doctor's name is  not known. Sedatives at that time meant drugs which were "downers" (to use  modern street jargon) such as barbiturates and bromides. They were very strong  drugs. There was one powerful bromide compound which could sometimes  produce LSD-like hallucinations. 

    (p. 7) Bill's brother-in-law was Dr. Leonard V. Strong Jr., married to Bill's sister  Dorothy. Bill was born November 26, 1895, and his sister Dorothy Brewster  Wilson was born in 1898. Bill's mother was Dr. Emily Griffith Wilson. Both his  brother-in-law and his mother were osteopaths. 

    (p. 7) The nationally-known New York City hospital was Charles B. Towns  Hospital at 293 Central Park West in Manhattan. 

    (p. 7) Belladonna, also called deadly nightshade, was an herb containing a  poisonous alkaloid which was used in small doses as a sedative and antispasmodic  drug in early alcoholism treatment. 

    (p. 7) "I met a kind doctor," Dr. William D. Silkworth. 

    (p. 7) "After a time I returned to the hospital" in Summer 1934. 

    (p. 8) Armistice Day was November 11, 1934. 

    (pp. 8-12) the old school friend was Ebby Thacher. His crucial visit to Bill W.,  and the long conversation in Bill's kitchen at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New  York, was near the end of November 1934. 

    (p. 9) "chartered an airplane" in January 1929, to fly from Albany, New York, to  the grand opening of the new airport by the Equinox House at Manchester,  Vermont. 

    (p. 9) "two men had appeared in court." Three people from the Oxford Group  were actually involved in the successful effort to rescue Ebby from being  committed to the insane asylum against his will, because of his out-of-control  alcoholism: Shep Cornell, Rowland Hazard, and Cebra Graves, in August 1934. 

    (p. 10) Bill's grandfather was Fayette Griffith.

    (p. 10) a reference back to the story on page 1 of visiting Winchester Cathedral,  see also page 12. 

    (p. 12) another reference to the story on page 1 of visiting Winchester Cathedral,  see also page 10. 

    (p. 12) "Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into  view." A standard way of referring to a conversion experience in the Protestant  Christianity of that period, referring to the story of the Apostle Paul's conversion  on the road to Damascus, see Acts 9:18 in the New Testament: "And immediately  there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and  arose, and was baptized." Richard Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness: A  Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind (Philadelphia: Innes & Sons, 1901),  Part IV. Chapter 3 described the Apostle Paul’s conversion experience on the road  to Damascus as his sudden experience of cosmic consciousness, see the note to  page 14 below. 

    (p. 13) "At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time." Bill was  admitted to the hospital in New York City at 2:38p.m. on December 11, 1934. He  was 39 years old. The hospital was the Charles B. Towns Hospital at 293 Central  Park West in Manhattan 

    (p. 14) December 14, 1934. This was about three weeks after his basic  conversion experience at the end of November (see page 12). Now, in the middle  of December, Bill had this visionary experience which turned him into a  missionary for a new message of hope. "I must turn in all things to the Father of  Light" is a reference to the letter of James in the New Testament, which was one  of the three most important parts of the New Testament in early AA teaching. See  James 1:17-18, "Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from  above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation  or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by  the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his created  beings." Although Bill described only "the great clean wind of a mountain top" in  this brief account in the Big Book, he elsewhere (see "Pass It On," p. 121)  described a vision of light as well: "Suddenly, my room blazed with an  indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description ....  Then, seen in the mind's eye, there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit,  where a great wind blew." This was his divine call (or "guidance" as the Oxford 

    Group termed it) to spread the message which Dr. Carl Jung had delivered to  Rowland Hazard, which Rowland had brought to Ebby, and which Ebby had in  turn passed on to him: "the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless  alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me." He only  had three days of sobriety at the time. In later years, Bill W. told Mel Barger that  the best description of his experience of the light was to be found in Richard  Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human  Mind (Philadelphia: Innes & Sons, 1901), see the second note to page 12 above. 

    (p. 14) "my friend, the doctor" was Dr. William D. Silkworth. 

    (p. 14) "my friend had emphasized" refers to Ebby. 

    (p. 15) "in one western city" refers to Cleveland, Ohio. 

    (p. 16) "one poor chap committed suicide" refers to Bill C., a lawyer and gambler,  or as he termed it, a "professional bridge player," who stayed with them almost a  year at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New York, and committed suicide in  1936, after having stolen and sold about $700 worth of their dress clothes and  luggage. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 2. THERE IS A SOLUTION 

    (p. 21) "Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you" is made up of bits and  pieces of the stories of numerous early AA members. 

    (pp. 26-27) "A certain American business man" was Rowland Hazard, who was  treated by the Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung in 1931, according to the  traditional date given later on. (In 2006 however, two good researchers -- Cora  Finch and Amy Colwell Bluhm, Ph.D. -- independently discovered, from a letter  written by Rowland Hazard describing his ongoing sessions with the psychiatrist,  that his extensive psychoanalysis with Jung took place in 1926.) At any rate,  Rowland Hazard, following Jung’s advice, eventually found a spiritual solution to  alcoholism, and then rescued Ebby Thacher from alcoholism. Ebby then went to  Bill Wilson to pass the message on to him and introduce Bill to the Oxford Group,  the worldwide evangelical group which seemed to be having success, not only  with them but with other people as well, in using a spiritual method to enable  people to stop drinking. 

    (p. 28) Famous American psychologist William James, who wrote "The Varieties  of Religious Experience."

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 3. MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM 

    (P. 32) "A man of thirty" was a story based loosely on an anecdote given in Richard  Peabody, "The Common Sense of Drinking," page 123. Peabody briefly mentions an  unknown man who gave up drinking until he had made his fortune five years later.  Resuming "moderate" drinking, he was soon back in his alcoholic difficulties, losing his  money in two or three years and dying of alcoholism a few years after that. 

    (pp. 35-37) "a friend we shall call Jim" was probably Harlan Spencer, who was described  as an automobile salesman on a list of early AA members written up by Dr. Bob,  according to the most recent research. The older AA accounts however identified “Jim”  as a man named Roland Arthur “Bob” Furlong, whose story "Another Prodigal Story"  appeared in the first edition of the Big Book. 

    (pp. 37-38) The jaywalker story cannot be linked to any known individual, and may have  been a hypothetical case. 

    (pp. 39-43) Fred, a "partner in a well known accounting firm," was Harry Brick, see the  story "A Different Slant" in the first edition of the Big Book. 

    (p. 43) the "staff member of a world renowned hospital" was Dr. Percy Pollick at  Bellevue Hospital in New York City. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 4. WE AGNOSTICS 

    (p. 50) "Let's look at the record" was a phrase used by Alfred E. Smith, four- time  governor of New York, who made an unsuccessful bid to become the first Roman  Catholic President of the United States. 

    (p. 51) the Wright brothers made the first successful airplane flight in 1903, the year Dr.  Bob turned 24, and the year Bill Wilson turned 8. The airplane was the symbol of the  great new age of modern technology for both men, and the ability of ordinary folks, like  the Wright brothers who were bicycle repairmen, to solve problems which had bested the  greatest scientific minds by applying simple but well-thought-out trial and error  experiments until they were successful. Setting all the grand theories and established  doctrines aside, what actually works, and what does not work? And how can we make it  work even better? 

    (p. 51) Professor Samuel P. Langley, whose attempt to build an airplane for the War  Department failed in 1903. 

    (p. 52) the Wright brothers made the first successful airplane flight in 1903.

    (p. 55) "people who proved that man could never fly" probably referred to any number of  scientific calculations, prior to 1903, showing that the weight of the kind of engine which  was then available was too heavy to work with the lift of the airfoil designs which were  then known. It took the development of lighter engines, and the kind of better wing  designs which the Wright brothers discovered by repeated trial and error in experiments  done in their bicycle shop, to beat that lift/weight problem. The AA program likewise  was the product of amateurs doing trial and error experiments until they discovered  pragmatic ways of getting around all of the problems which were baffling most of the  learned psychiatrists, psychologists, and religious leaders. 

    (p. 56) the "minister's son" was Fitz Mayo, see the story "Our Southern Friend" in the Big  Book. The alcoholic who approached him in the hospital was Bill Wilson. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 5. HOW IT WORKS 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 6. INTO ACTION 

    (p. 76) "Faith without works is dead" is a quotation from the letter of James 2:20 and  2:26. 

    (p. 79) "a man we know had remarried" ?? unknown 

    (p. 80) the story of the man who "accepted a sum of money from a … business rival" was  taken from Oxford Group literature, name unknown. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 7. WORKING WITH OTHERS 

    (p. 96) "One of our Fellowship [who] failed entirely with his first half dozen prospects"  was possibly Bill Wilson, although many of the early AA people had a numbers of  unsuccessful twelfth step calls before they found their first success. 

    (p. 102) "Many of us keep liquor in our homes." When he was staying with Dr. Bob and  Anne Smith, Bill W. kept two bottles on the sideboard, to show that alcoholics could be  around liquor without drinking. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 8. TO WIVES 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 9. THE FAMILY AFTERWARD 

    (p. 124) Henry Ford of the Ford automobile company.

    (p. 133) "one of the many doctors who had the opportunity of reading this book in  manuscript form" ?? name unknown 

    (p. 135) "a heavy smoker and coffee drinker" was Earl Treat, see the story "He Sold  Himself Short" in the first edition of the Big Book. 

    ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 10. TO EMPLOYERS 

    (p. 136) "one member who has spent much of his life in big business" was Hank  Parkhurst, who wrote this chapter. See the story "The Unbeliever" in the first edition of  the Big Book. 

    (p. 136) Paul B. ?? name otherwise unknown 

    (p. 137) man who committed suicide with a shotgun ?? name unknown 

    (p. 137) man who hanged himself ?? name unknown 

    (p. 138) "An officer of one of the largest banking institutions" ?? Frank Winans ?? 

    (p. 138) "an executive of the same bank: ?? Bob E. ?? Clarence Snyder, "The Home  Brewmeister" in the 1st edit. ?? 

    (p. 140) "prominent doctor in Chicago" ?? Dr.Edward Cowles ?? Dan Craske, M.D. ?? 

    (p. 141) the company that employed Hank Parkhurst, the author of this chapter, was  Standard Oil of New Jersey. 

    (pp. 148-149) "the vice president of a large industrial concern" ?? name unknown 

    (p. 149) "Today I own a little company," the Honor Dealers Co., an automobile polish  distributorship. See the Big Book story "The Vicious Cycle," 3rd edit. page 246, "Bill  and Hank had just taken over a small automobile polish company," and 3rd edit. page  248, "peddling off my polish samples." 

    (pp. 149-150) the "two alcoholic employees" were Bill Wilson and Jim Burwell. ______________________________ 

    CHAPTER 11. A VISION FOR YOU 

    (p. 151) The Four Horsemen are described here as Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, and  Despair. The reference is to the New Testament, Revelation 6:1-8, where we see the  Lamb opening the seven seals on the scroll which bears our judgment and condemnation  by the heavenly standards of all that is holy and good and moral and responsible (what  we call Good Orderly Direction in AA language). Four horsemen appear, and the horrors  of the end of the world begin to take place. Terror: the white horse brings being  conquered and defeated. Bewilderment: the red horse brings chaotic warfare and conflict  to which we can find no solution. Frustration: the black horse brings no money to buy 

    food. Despair: the rider of the pale horse is named Death. In the middle ages, Death was  portrayed as a skeleton in a black robe carrying a scythe. The Big Book's version of the  Four Horsemen equates Death with Despair, because falling into total despair is the death  of the alcoholic's soul. 

    (pp. 153-154) "in 1935, one of our number made a journey to a certain western city" refers to Bill Wilson's trip to Akron, Ohio, to attempt to deal with a proxy fight over a  business called National Rubber Machinery. The hotel lobby was in the Mayflower  Hotel in Akron. Bill W. had been staying sober himself for the past five months, since  December 14, 1934, but had been unable to carry the message successfully to any other  alcoholic. 

    (pp. 154-155) The clergyman whom Bill W. phoned was the Reverend Walter Tunks, the  Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Akron. 

    (p. 155) Bill W. was eventually put in contact with an alcoholic in Akron, a surgeon (a  proctologist) named Dr. Bob Smith, who had been attending Oxford Group meetings, but  had not been able to get sober that way. 

    (p. 155) After staying sober for almost four weeks, Dr. Bob left Akron to go to the annual  meeting of the American Medical Association which was going to be held that year at the  Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but once he was away from home, he  instead went on a drunken spree that lasted several days. 

    (pp. 155-156) Returning to Akron, Dr. Bob made the decision that he had no choice but  to commit himself totally to the new program of recovery which he and Bill W. had been  devising. He never drank again. Dr. Bob and Bill W. later believed this to have been on  June 10, 1935, which is still celebrated as Founders Day and the beginning of Alcoholics  Anonymous. However, a check of the American Medical Association's records shows  that the national convention was held Monday-Friday, June 10-14, 1935, so Dr. Bob's  real sobriety date has to have been a few days later than the official date, most likely on Monday, June 17, 1935. 

    (p. 156) "the head nurse of a local hospital" was Mrs. Hall, the Admissions Nurse at  Akron City Hospital. 

    (pp. 156-158) The Man on the Bed, AA No. 3: this visit to the alcoholic in the hospital  took place on June 28, 1935, only ten days or so after Dr. Bob had his last drink. The  alcoholic lawyer whom Bill W. and Dr. Bob called on was Bill Dotson, AA No. 3, the  third person to get sober in AA, sobriety date June 26, 1935. The political campaign he  entered: he ran one time for councilman, but did not get elected.

    (p. 158) The "devil-may-care young fellow" was 30-year-old Ernie Galbraith of Akron, a  young man with problems who must be distinguished from the other Ernie G. in the early  Ohio AA group, who was Ernie Gerig of Toledo, one of the truly great AA good old  timers. Ernie Galbraith, who had trouble with drinking for the rest of his life,  nevertheless had his story, "The Seven Month Slip," in the first edition of the Big Book.  In 1941, Dr. Bob's daughter Sue married Ernie Galbraith, against her father's wishes, but  they were later divorced. 

    (p. 159) "our friend of the hotel lobby incident" was Bill Wilson. 

    (p. 159) Bill Wilson "leaving behind his first acquaintance [Dr. Bob], the lawyer [Bill  Dotson], and the devil-may-care chap [Ernie Galbraith]" left Akron and took a train back  home to New York in late August 1935. He had been in Akron a little over three months,  most of it living in Dr. Bob and Anne Smith's home, where Bill and Dr. Bob had worked  out the basic modifications which were going to have to be made to the Oxford Group  methods so they would work better with alcoholics. 

    (p. 159) "A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven more," that is,  by the end of February 1937, there were a total of ten people in the Akron AA group.  Among the early Akron AA's, some or all of the following people may have been  included in that "seven more." For those whose stories appeared in the first edition of the  Big Book, the title of the story is also given. We need to remember that at any given  time, the count would have included people who had gotten sober but were not going to  stay sober, and also people who got permanently sober in Akron but who then left to  found AA groups in other cities, so it is probably impossible to completely reconstruct  the list of seven people whom the Big Book authors were thinking of at this point. 

    AKRON: 

    Ernie Galbraith, "The Seven Month Slip," first got sober September 1935, but had  continual trouble staying sober. 

    Phil S., AA No. 5, sober September 1935, first AA court case. 

    Tom Lucas, sober November 1935, "My Wife and I." 

    Walter Bray, sober February 1936, "The Backslider." 

    Joe Doppler, sober April 1936, "The European Drinker." 

    Paul Stanley, sober April 1936, "The Truth Freed Me." 

    Dick S. was regarded as AA No. 7.  

    Bill V., Bob E., and Ken A. were all sober by 1937.

    James D. "J.D." Holmes, who founded the first AA group in Indiana, got sober in Akron  in September 1936, and said that he was AA No. 10. But he had left Akron and gone to  Evansville, Indiana, by the time the Big Book was written, so although he stayed sober  till the end of his life, he was probably not counted among the seven people mentioned on  page 159 of the Big Book. 

    NEW YORK: during the same period, four of the people whose stories were in the first  edition of the Big Book got sober in the New York area. 

    Fitz Mayo, sober October 1935, "Our Southern Friend." 

    Hank Parkhurst, sober November 1935, "The Unbeliever." 

    William Ruddell, sober November 1935, "A Businessman’s Recovery." Myron Williams, sober April 1936, "Hindsight." 

    (p. 160) "One man and his wife" meant T. Henry and Clarence Williams, who lived at 876  Palisades Drive, Akron, Ohio. 

    (p. 161) The "community thirty miles away" was Cleveland, Ohio. The three major AA  groups in the earliest days were in Akron, the New York City area, and Cleveland. The  fifteen members in Cleveland may have included Lloyd T., Charlie J., and Clarence  Snyder. Clarence's sobriety date was February 11, 1938, as recorded in Mitchell K.,  "How It Worked." 

    (p. 161) "the same thing is taking place in many eastern cities" refers to the people,  sometimes from a fair distance away, who had found sobriety through contact with the  early AA program in the New York City area. 

    (p. 161) "a well-known hospital" refers to a hospital in New York City called the Charles  B. Towns Hospital at 293 Central Park West in Manhattan. "The doctor in attendance  there" was Dr. William D. Silkworth. "Six years ago one of our number was a patient  there" refers to what must have been Bill Wilson's first admission there when he was still  struggling unsuccessfully to stop drinking, and may refer to a date around 1932 or 1933. 

    (p. 162) "our western friends" refers to the AA people in the part of northeastern Ohio  centering around Akron and Cleveland. The latter city, Cleveland, is right on Lake Erie,  which separates the U.S. from Canada, while Akron is inland, twenty miles to the south. (p. 162) "through contact with our two larger centers" refers to the New York City area  and the Akron/Cleveland area in northeastern Ohio. 

    (p. 163) "an A.A. member who was living in a large community" referred to Hank  Parkhurst in Montclair, New Jersey. "A prominent psychiatrist" there was Dr. Howard of  Montclair, who was the Chief Psychiatrist for the State of New Jersey.

    (p. 163) "Arrangements were also made with the chief psychiatrist of a large public  hospital" referred to Dr. Russell E. Blaisdell and the Rockland State Hospital near  Orangeburg, New York. 

    ______________________________ 

    DR. BOB'S NIGHTMARE 

    (p. 171) Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. 

    (p. 171) "Born in a small New England village." Dr. Bob was born on August 8, 1879, in  St. Johnsbury, Vermont. His father and mother were Judge and Mrs. Walter Perrin  Smith. Bill Wilson was born November 26, 1895, so he was sixteen years younger than  Dr. Bob, and his WW I experiences also put him in a different generation. 

    (p. 172) Dr. Bob graduated from high school, the St. Johnsbury Academy, in 1898. "One  of the best colleges in the country" was Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire,  one of the prestigious Ivy League colleges where Dr. Bob graduated in 1902. (p. 173) Medical school at "one of the largest universities in the country" meant the  University of Michigan, 1905-1907. This is one of the three or four best universities in  the upper midwest. 

    (p. 174) After being sent on his way, he enrolled in Rush Medical University near  Chicago, Illinois, where he received his medical degree in 1910. 

    (p. 174) He did a two year internship "in a western city" which was Akron, Ohio, and  after finishing this, he opened an office there in downtown Akron in 1912. 

    (pp. 174-175) "Voluntarily incarcerated myself at least a dozen times in one of the local  sanitariums." Fair Oaks Villa in Cuyahoga Falls, a town four miles north of downtown  Akron. 

    (p. 175) Scylla and Charybdis were references to ancient Greek mythology, where the  hero Odysseus had to sail through a narrow strait between them. Scylla, who lived in a  cave on one side of the strait, was a sea-monster with six heads, each with a triple row of  teeth, and twelve feet. Charybdis was a whirlpool or maelstrom on the other side of the  strait which would suck a ship under and destroy it. Trying to avoid one of these as you  sailed through the strait would throw you into the clutches of the other. Later authors  tried to identify this with the Straits of Messina, but there is no whirlpool of that sort  there. The story of Odysseus was the tale of a man who went off in the attempt to  become a great hero, and underwent shipwreck and incredible disasters during his  struggle to get back home. "Coming home" meant crawling up on a beach in tattered  rags, and having to live as a beggar, and being forced to fight a series of hideous 

    monsters and other people too, in order to live as a true Prince once again. As a symbolic  tale for alcoholics, the monsters are the frightening and destructive forces living in our  own minds. Only the help and grace of Athena, the goddess of mercy who brought  civilized behavior to the Greeks, enabled Odysseus to defeat them, for they were stronger  than any human power. In addition to a deep familiarity with the Bible, all educated  people in the U.S. of that generation knew Latin, and Dr. Bob could also read ancient  Greek quite well, which meant that he was totally familiar with Homer's "Odyssey," the  epic which told of Odysseus' struggle to get back home. 

    (p. 175) "I wound up in the local hospital." People's Hospital. 

    (p. 175) "My father had to send a doctor out from my hometown." This was in 1914.  The town was St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The hometown doctor took Dr. Bob back to the  house on Summer Street where he had been born, where he remained in bed for two  months. 

    (p. 175) "The passing of the Eighteenth Amendment," which banned all sale or use of  alcoholic beverages in the United States, took place on January 16, 1919, just two months  after the Armistice was signed ending World War I. The National Prohibition Act,  commonly known as the Volstead Act, was passed on October 28, 1920, to carry out the  intent of the new amendment to the Constitution, and went into effect at the beginning of  1921. Almost thirteen years passed before the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S.  Constitution was ratified on December 5, 1933, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment and  ending the prohibition era. During that period, alcoholics in the U.S. bought smuggled or  illegally-made alcoholic beverages, or made their own illegal brews. There was "bath tub  gin" and homemade wine and beer. There was also moonshine whiskey made up in the  hills by ferocious hillbillies toting rifles and shotguns, along with similar small distilleries  hidden near many cities. Better quality alcoholic beverages were smuggled in from  places like Canada and the Caribbean. 

    (p. 176) Hiding out in one of the clubs and registering at a hotel under an assumed name  ?? unknown 

    (p. 176) "My wife" referred to Anne Smith. 

    (p. 177) Wallace Beery (Hollywood movie actor) in the famous classic movie "Tugboat  Annie" about a colorful, two-fisted woman who was the captain of a tugboat. 

    (p. 178) "A crowd of people" referred to the Oxford Group in Akron. Dr. Bob started  going to their meetings in 1933, but was unable to get sober using Oxford Group  methods. After Bill Wilson arrived in Akron, the two of them began modifying those 

    Oxford Group methods, and devising a method which would work much better. Dr. Bob  and the Akron AA's did not totally break with the Oxford Group however until  November or December of 1939, which was after the Big Book had been published. 

    (p. 179) "A lady called up my wife." This was Oxford Group member Henrietta  Seiberling, whose name had been given to Bill Wilson by the Reverend Walter Tunks, as  the result of Bill's telephone call from the Mayflower Hotel in Akron, see pages 153-155  and the notes above to those pages. 

    (p. 179) "We entered her house at exactly five o'clock" refers to Henrietta Seiberling's  house, on the evening of May 12, 1935. Dr. Bob stayed until 11:15 p.m. talking with Bill  Wilson. This was their first meeting. 

    (p. 179) After about three weeks dry, Dr. Bob says, he went to Atlantic City, New Jersey.  He intended to go to the national meeting of the American Medical Association at the  Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City, which the AMA's records show was held from June 10- 14, Monday-Friday, 1935. 

    (p. 179) "I woke up at a friend's house" in a town near Akron. This was Dr. Bob's  receptionist in his office, a woman named Lily who lived in Cuyahoga Falls. This town  was only about four miles north of downtown Akron, and is now part of the greater  Akron metropolitan area. 

    (p. 179) "my wife ... sent my newly made friend [Bill Wilson] over to get me." 

    (p. 180) Dr. Bob says he had "my last drink" the next day, to steady his nerves for a  surgical operation he had to perform, on "June 10, 1935." As we have seen, the AMA  had met from Monday to Friday, June 10-14, so it must have been a few days later than  either he or Bill W. remembered, and possibly as late as June 17. But Dr. Bob stayed  sober for all the rest of his life, and died sober on November 16, 1950. He was 71 years  old, and had been sober for over 15 years.

    Big Book History and Myths by Arthur S., Arlington TX


    This portion of the workshop will be a brief history of facts and myths about the book  “Alcoholics Anonymous” which we in AA affectionately call “The Big Book.” Co-founder Bill  Wilson began writing it in April 1938 at the business office of New York member Hank P.  (Parkhurst) at Honors Dealers, 17 William St, Newark, New Jersey. 

     

    Hank P, whose Big Book Story is “The Unbeliever”, started AA in New Jersey. He also had a  significant role in the development of the Big Book. Ruth Hock, AA’s first National Secretary, wrote “If it wasn’t for Bill Wilson the Big Book would never have been written. If it  wasn’t for Hank Parkhurst it never would have been published.” Hank is credited with writing chapter 10, “To Employers.” This is also alluded to in the book “Pass It On” (p. 200).  Sadly, Hank returned to drinking in April 1940. 

     

    Bill Wilson was the primary author of the Big Book and 12 Steps but others did make major  contributions and that is the way Bill wanted it to be. Bill wrote draft outlines on legal pads  and dictated the expanded text to Ruth Hock. Each week he would read the drafts to those  who met at his home. Edited copies were sent to Dr. Bob and the Akron members for further review and editing. As they worked their way through the chapters, New York and  Akron members also wrote the personal stories to be included in the book.  


    In the spring of 1938, Bill wrote to Dr. Bob that he had drafted the chapters “There Is A  Solution'' and “Bill’s Story.” Bill suggested to Dr. Bob that “the completed book should  represent the work of many people, particularly the individual stories which should be as  little edited as possible. They will naturally be the heart of the book and must represent  the feelings, experience and personalities of those who write them.” Dr. Bob’s wife, Anne,  was invited to write the chapter “portraying the wife of an alcoholic '' but she declined. As it  turned out, the chapter “To Wives'' was written by Bill, much to the dismay of his wife Lois.  Bill informed Dr. Bob that nearly everyone in New York favored the title “Alcoholics Anonymous.” This was almost a year prior to the book’s publication. 

     

    On July 18, 1938, Dr. Esther L Richards wrote a very favorable letter to Bill regarding a 2- chapter book prospectus sent to her for review. She suggested getting a “number one physician” in the alcoholism field to write an introduction. Shortly after, on July 27, 1938, Dr.  William D. Silkworth wrote a letter of support for use in fundraising for the book. It was incorporated into the chapter “The Doctor’s Opinion” together with extracts from a paper he  wrote that was published in the Lancet medical journal in July 1939. Dr. Silkworth’s name  was not added to the “The Doctor’s Opinion” until publication of the 2nd edition in 1955.  


    The Recovery Program  

    Prior to publication of the Big Book, there were two groups in Akron and New York. The  recovery program consisted of six steps passed on to new members by word-of-mouth. The  lack of any written material resulted in widely varying versions depending on who was  doing the passing on. Different versions of the six steps can be found in the books “AA Comes of Age” (p. 160), Pass It On” (p. 197) and a July 1953 Grapevine article by Bill Wilson  titled “A Fragment of History” which can be found in “The Language of the Heart” (p. 195).  


    The Big Book pioneer story “He Sold Himself Short” (p. 263) also contains a version of the  six steps recorded by Earl T. (Treet), founder of AA in Chicago. Dr. Bob was Earl’s sponsor  and this version reflects a more orthodox Oxford Group influence that prevailed in the  midwest. It should be noted however, that the Oxford Group did not have anything that  they called or considered to be “Steps.” It was only the alcoholics in New York and Akron  (or what was then called “the Alcoholic Squad”) that exclusively had and practiced ‘steps’  as their spiritual program of recovery.  


    In his July 1953 Grapevine article Bill wrote, “Though these principles were advocated  according to the whim or liking of each of us, and though in Akron and Cleveland they still  stuck by the Oxford Group absolutes of Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness and Love, this was  the gist of our message to incoming alcoholics up to 1939, when our present 12 Steps were  put to paper.”  


    The 12 Steps were actually first put to paper in December 1938 at Bill’s home at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, New York. An approximate reconstruction of the original draft is in  the book “Pass It On” (p. 198). Bill claimed it took him about 30 minutes to do it.  


    There was much (often heated) debate on the wording of the new 12 Steps that continued  right up to the publication of the Big Book. In a May 1955 Grapevine article titled “How AA’s  World Services Grew ''Bill described the book writing project as one where fierce arguments over the drafts dominated the small fellowship’s activities for months on end and  that over time he became much more of an umpire than an author.  


    400 mimeographed manuscript copies were sent out for review and comments in January  1939. New York member Jim B (Burwell) suggested the phrases “God as we understood  Him” and “Power greater than ourselves” be added to the Steps and basic text. Bill Wilson  wrote in his July 1953 Grapevine article “Those expressions, as we so well know today,  proved life-savers for many an alcoholic.” Jim B, whose Big Book story is “The Vicious  Cycle” started AA in Philadelphia and helped start AA in Baltimore, Maryland.  


    The manuscript copies sent out for review were returned by March 1939 and produced  very few changes. However, a major change did occur when a New Jersey psychiatrist “Dr.  Howard” suggested toning down the use of “you must” to “we ought” or “we should.” Dr.  Silkworth and Dr. Harry Tiebout offered similar advice. Tom Uzzell, a friend of Hank P, an  editor at Collier’s and a member of the NYU faculty, edited the manuscript and reduced it to  around 400 pages. The cuts came mostly from the personal stories.  


    Editions  

    In April 1939, 4,730 copies of the 1st edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” were published at 

    $3.50 a copy. That would be equivalent to $54 a copy today. It was a very expensive book  for its time. The printer, Edward Blackwell of the Cornwall Press, was told to use the thickest paper in his shop. The large, bulky volume became known as the “Big Book'' and the  name has stuck ever since. In “AA Comes of Age'' (p. 170) Bill wrote that the idea behind the thick, large paper was “to convince the alcoholic he was getting his money’s worth.”  The book had eight roman and 400 arabic numbered pages. “The Doctor’s Opinion” was  page one and the basic text ended at page 179.  


    The 2nd edition Big Book was introduced 16 years later at the historic 1955 International  Convention in St Louis. Bill re-numbered the pages of the 2nd edition so that page one began with “Bill’s Story” instead of “The Doctor’s Opinion.” It is not known why he did this but  there has been some very creative and entertaining speculation on the matter. 21 years  later, the 1976 Conference approved publication of the 3rd edition. 25 years after that, the  2001 Conference approved publication of the 4th edition.  


    The US copyright to the 1st edition Big Book expired in April 1967. This was not discovered  until 1985 when it was also discovered that the copyright to the 2nd edition expired in  1983. It should be noted however, that the Big Book copyright has expired only in the United States and is still in force outside the US under international treaty agreements.  


    Changes  

    The basic text of the Big Book is, for the most part, "protected" from radical change by the  prevailing sentiment of the AA Fellowship as a whole. Changes to the basic text can be  made by conference advisory action but it is doubtful they would get very far. As early as  the 2nd edition Bill sensed that the Fellowship was resistant to changing the basic text and  was careful to inform the 1955 Conference that the main objective of the 2nd edition was to  change the personal stories to better reflect the make-up of the membership. His report  stated, "not an iota" of the first part of the text dealing with recovery principles had been  changed.  


    Contrary to popular belief, a number of wording changes have been made to the basic text  over the years. The wording of Step Twelve changed in March 1941 in the 2nd printing of  the 1st edition Big Book. The term “spiritual experience” was changed to “spiritual awakening” and the term “as the result of these steps” was changed to “as the result of those steps.”  Step Twelve was changed again in 1956 in the 2nd printing of the 2nd edition. The term “as  the result of those steps” was restored to its original form of “as the result of these steps.”  Only one person on this planet could pull off something like that. To protect his anonymity  I will simply say that his last name began with “W.”  


    In 1947, in the 11th printing of the 1st edition, the term "ex-alcoholic" was replaced by the  terms "ex-problem drinker" or "non-drinker." Over the years changes have been made to  reflect the growth in membership and groups (e.g. the word "scores" changed to "hundreds" or “hundreds” changed to "thousands" etc.) and footnotes were added. Several web sites have tables detailing all the basic text wording changes from edition to edition.  


    The 2006 General Service Conference approved a change to the preface of the 4th edition so  that it reads “Therefore the first part of this volume, describing the AA recovery program,  has been left largely untouched in the course of revisions made for the second, third and  fourth editions.” The word “largely” was added to correct the erroneous impression that  the basic text had not been changed over the prior editions. 


    The major changes to the Big Book editions have been in the selection of personal stories  so that they represent a good cross-section of the AA membership. In “AA Comes of Age”  (p. 164) Bill wrote “We had not gone much further with the text of the book when it was  evident that something more was needed. There would have to be a story or case history  section... [to] identify us with the distant reader in a way that the text itself might not.”  


    29 stories were included in the 1st edition to reflect a 1939 US membership of around 100.  37 stories were included in the 2nd edition to reflect a 1955 worldwide membership of  around 136,000. 43 stories were included in the 3rd edition to reflect a 1976 worldwide  membership of around 321,000. 42 stories were included in the 4th edition to reflect a 2001  worldwide membership of over 2 million. In 2003, the book “Experience, Strength & Hope'' was published. It contains 56 stories that were previously published in the first three editions and later replaced.    


     

    Historical Accuracy  

    There are two rather sensitive items in the Big Book that are historically and factually  incorrect. One is in Dr. Bob’s story, the other is in the “Spiritual Experience” appendix.  


    In his story Dr. Bob briefly describes his 3-day binge at an AMA convention in Atlantic City,  New Jersey. Upon his return to Akron, Bill helped him through a 3-day sobering up period  to get ready for a scheduled surgery. Dr. Bob had his last drink on the day of the surgery  and gives the date as June 10, 1935. AA also marks this date as the beginning of the AA  Fellowship.  


    “AA Comes of Age” (p. 147) “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” (p. 72) and “Pass It On” (p.  147) all erroneously state that the AMA Convention began the first week of June 1935. The  AMA archives has long ago confirmed that the convention began in the second week of June  1935 on June 10. Allowing for 3+ days of binging and blacking out followed by 3 days of  sobering up, Dr. Bob’s sober date appears to actually be June 17, not June 10.  


    The “Spiritual Experience” appendix was added in the 2nd printing of the 1st edition when  the wording of Step 12 was changed to use the term “spiritual awakening” instead of “spiritual experience. This was done because many members thought they had to have a sudden,  spectacular spiritual experience similar to the one Bill Wilson had in Towns Hospital as described in the chapter “Bill’s Story.”  


    The 1st edition had a bright multi-colored dust jacket that was designed by Ray C. whose Big Book story is “An Artist’s Concept”. He began his story with a quotation he attributed to  Herbert Spencer which said: "There is a principle which is a bar against all information,  which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting  ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Ray C’s story was not included in the 2nd edition Big Book when it was published in 1955.  


    In 1960, the quotation was added to the “Spiritual Experience” appendix in the 4th printing  of the 2nd edition. The attribution of the quotation to Spencer is in error. It should be attributed to an English clergyman, author and college lecturer by the name of William Paley  who lived from 1743-1805. Herbert Spencer, who lived from 1820-1903 was a great rival of his fellow Englishman Charles Darwin who is credited with the theory of evolution. How ever, it was Spencer, not Darwin, who popularized the term "evolution" and it was also  Spencer who coined the term, "survival of the fittest." But Spencer did not author the quotation attributed to him in the Big Book.  


    Summation  

    In the remaining time I will try to sum up the key role of the Big Book in AA history and  why I believe it enjoys and deserves so much respect and admiration from the AA membership.  

    AA’s historic 1955 International Convention in St Louis introduced a new circle and triangle symbol that was prominently displayed on a large banner draping the back of the stage.  In “AA Comes of Age'' (p. 139) Bill Wilson described the circle as representing the whole of  AA. The triangle represented AA’s Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service. Each of  AA’s Three Legacies has a foundation of 12 spiritual principles. They are the 12 Steps for  the Legacy of Recovery, the 12 Traditions for the Legacy of Unity and the 12 Concepts for  the Legacy of Service.  


    There is an old saying that “Hindsight is 20/20.” History is hindsight, particularly in searching for cause and effect. The common root action that caused the written evolution of the  Three Legacies of AA very likely took place in October 1937. It was a group conscience  decision by the Akron and New York groups to permit the writing of a book of experience  that later came to be fondly known in AA as the “Big Book.”  


    The book’s contents explain the 12 Steps and AA’s Legacy of Recovery. The “Foreword to  the First Edition '' defines many of the key principles that were later absorbed into the 12  Traditions and AA’s Legacy of Unity. Finally, the service structure that was needed to produce and distribute the book and manage the public relations and funds related to book  sales provided much of the experience and organization that later helped shape the 12  Concepts and AA’s Legacy of Service.  


    The 2nd edition Big Book introduced an appendix containing the long and short forms of the  12 Traditions. The 4th edition introduced an appendix containing the short form of the 12  Concepts for World Service. The Big Book now contains all 36 spiritual principles of AA’s  Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service.  


    The Big Book has a remarkable history of carrying the message of recovery throughout the  world in the 20th and 21st centuries: 300,000 copies of the 1st edition were distributed from  1939-1955, 1,150,000 copies of the 2nd edition were distributed from 1955-1976, and  19,550,000 copies of the 3rd edition were distributed from 1976-2002. By 2005, distribution reached the 25 million mark and is now exceeding the 30 million mark (this is just  the English language versions).  


    Big Book distribution milestones are celebrated with the presentation of a milestone copy  to a distinguished recipient. The 1-millionth copy (a 2nd edition) was presented to President Richard Nixon in April 1973. The 2-millionth copy was presented to HEW Secretary  Joseph Califano in June 1979. The 5-millionth copy was presented to Ruth Hock in July 1985. The 10-millionth copy was presented to Nell Wing in July 1990. She was Bill Wilson’s  longtime non-alcoholic secretary and AA’s first archivist. The 15-millionth copy was given  to Ellie Norris in 1996. She was the widow of former trustee chairman John L Norris, MD,  affectionately known as “Dr. Jack” to the membership. In 2000, the 20-millionth copy was  presented to the fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups. In 2005 the 25-millionth copy was  presented to the Warden of San Quentin Prison, Jill Brown. In 2010 a 30-millionth copy will  be presented.  


    Conclusion  

    AA’s story began with a 5-month sober and still shaky stock broker from New York. He had  his last drink (a beer) in the lobby of Towns Hospital in New York City in December 1934.  While on a failed business trip to Akron, Ohio, he met an alcoholic surgeon who desperately  wanted to stop drinking. He had his last drink (also a beer) in front of Akron City Hospital  in June 1935. It’s probably safe to say that when AA’s co-founders met they had no idea at  all of the fellowship of alcoholics that would evolve from their humble meeting and how  that fellowship would go on to save the lives of millions of alcoholics world-wide over the  next 75 years.  


    Their legacies are today described as Recovery, Unity and Service. They were our gifts to  freely receive and it is our duty to freely give them away. It has been a remarkable journey  on the Road of Happy Destiny.

     It was early Spring 1935 and Bill Wilson was about four months sober. He’d begun frequenting “friendly” Wall Street firms when the glimmer of an opportunity presented itself. Bill learned of a proxy fight for control of the National Rubber Machinery Company in Akron, Ohio. He made a quick study of the company, convinced some Wall Street investors of the soundness of his plan, then in April went out to Ohio to persuade disgruntled share-owners to support his group’s bid for control.
    Were he to succeed, he would rebuild his shattered career and be set for life financially (with a starting salary of over $200,000 in today’s dollars) when he became the company’s new Chief Operating Officer– as was promised by his partners. After a few weeks of meeting with various groups of shareholders, Bill began to feel the rising excitement of prospective victory. By early May, he was confident enough to return to New York, gather his investors and descend en-masse to Akron for the final vote.


    However, in his absence, several “splinter groups” of shareholders pooled their resources with some share-holding managers. Upon the return of Bill and partners for that final vote, these “splinter-groups” succeeded in putting together 60% of the votes, meaning failure for the Wall Streeters and absolute disaster for Bill Wilson. 


    Bill’s associates immediately departed for New York, leaving him alone in Akron to make a last effort to salvage the venture. They left on a Friday, leaving Bill facing a solitary weekend in a strange (and now unfriendly) town. He had too much time on his hands and a great deal of bitterness in his heart: fate had suddenly turned against him. He was filled with self-pity, resentment and now loneliness. Saturday afternoon found him pacing the Mayflower Hotel lobby in an extremely agitated state– with less than ten dollars to his name.


    And so began the personal crisis that was to set in motion a series of life-changing events for Bill. There was a bar at one end of the lobby where he could strike up an acquaintance. He would only have a ginger-ale, he thought. But the “wheels were turning” in his head, as he began to think, “perhaps he could handle, say three drinks – no more!” Suddenly Bill had the panicky feeling that he was on thin ice – fear gripped him. In New York he stayed sober through working with other drunks at Towns and elsewhere. That work had been his protection. It was this thought that lead him to turn in the direction of the church directory at the opposite end of the hotel lobby.


    Bill looked over the names listed, and quite at random, picked out that of a Rev. Walter F. Tunks. Some say he picked him because it was a funny sounding name, which he liked – or perhaps because he was Episcopalian like many Oxford Groupers back in New York. Whatever the reason, he unwittingly picked the strongest Oxford Grouper among all of Akron’s clergymen.


    He told Rev. Tunks he was “a drunk from New York” who could only stay sober if he could get in touch with a drunk to talk to. Rev. Tunks never hesitated or paused to think about this odd request – And despite not personally knowing any drunks, he never stopped to question the wisdom of giving a total stranger the names of ten people who might direct him to a drunk.


    Bill called nine of the ten without success. But one man, the tenth and last on the list, Norman Sheppard, knew a woman, a fellow Oxford Grouper named Henrietta Seiberling, who’d been trying desperately without success to help a friend who recently declared to the group that he was a hopeless alcoholic. This friend, Dr. Robert Smith had privately confided to her that the Oxford approach was not helping him because “I just don’t understand this alcoholism thing – nobody does.”
    This was the situation on Saturday May 11, 1935 when Henrietta Seiberling received a telephone call from an absolute stranger.


    “My name is Bill Wilson, I’m a rum-hound from the Oxford Group in New York looking for a drunk to talk to in order to stay sober myself,” she recalled him saying. 


    This was manna from heaven she thought to herself. Henrietta had relied heavily on God’s guidance in her life, and that phone call was the help she and other Group members had been praying for to help their friend. “You come right out here,” was her response to Bill.


    When he arrived, she called the Smiths only to be told by Anne Smith that her husband had brought her a potted plant for Mother’s Day (the next day), and “now he’s laying potted under the kitchen table.” So the meeting between the two men was arranged for the next afternoon at Henrietta’s residence.


    Dr. Bob told Anne that “15 minutes of this stuff would be tops. I didn’t want to talk to this mug, or anybody else, and we’d really have to make it snappy. Now these were the facts” he recalled, “we got there at five o’clock and it was 11:15 when we left” taking Bill Wilson with them.


    Bill remembered Dr. Silkworth’s suggestion that he first get the prospect’s attention through identification. To “get them to understand what was wrong with them by seeing themselves in your story,” he advised. So Bill began telling Dr. Bob of his experiences with alcohol: the hopes, the promises, and the failure of both. When it came to Dr. Silkworth’s diagnosis of alcoholism as a physical allergy which explains the uncontrollable craving that follows the first drink, and the obsession of the mind which precedes the first drink, he “really laid it on.”


    When they walked out of the room where they’d been sitting for about six hours, Dr. Bob said Bill was “the first living human I had ever talked to who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience. In other words, he talked my language.” He didn’t preach and offered no “you musts” so Dr. Bob opened his heart for the first time in his life, and told Bill his personal story.


    As we know, Bill stayed on with the Smiths (for three months) and on the day of Dr. Bob’s last drink, June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was officially born (see “Historical Accuracy Footnote” below). The two men then set out to pass the message onto others, as they realized that they “must keep spiritually active”. In other words, they could only keep what they’d found by giving it away.
    Historical Accuracy Footnote**:In his story Dr. Bob briefly describes his three-day binge at an AMA convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Upon his return to Akron, Bill helped him through a three day sobering up period to get ready for a scheduled surgery. Dr. Bob had his last drink on the day of the surgery and gives the date as June 10, 1935. AA also marks this date as the beginning of the AA Fellowship.


    “AA Comes of Age” (p. 147) “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” (p. 72) and “Pass It On” (p. 147) all erroneously state that the AMA Convention began the first week of June 1935. The AMA archives has long ago confirmed that the convention began on June 10, 1935. Allowing for three-plus days of binging and blacking out followed by three days of sobering up, Dr. Bob’s sober date appears to actually be June 17, not June 10. 

    12 Defining Moments in the History of Alcoholics Anonymous

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