Writing the Big Book

William H. Schaberg

• Publisher: Central Recovery Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781949481280
• eBook ISBN: 9781949481297
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

The definitive history of writing and producing the"Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous, told through extensive access to the group's archives.

Alcoholics Anonymous is arguably the most significant self-help book published in the twentieth century. Released in 1939, the "Big Book, " as it's commonly known, has sold an estimated 37 million copies, been translated into seventy languages, and spawned numerous recovery communities around the world while remaining a vibrant plan for recovery from addiction in all its forms for millions of people. While there are many books about A.A. history, most rely on anecdotal stories told well after the fact by Bill Wilson and other early members—accounts that have proved to be woefully inaccurate at times. Writing the Big Book brings exhaustive research, academic discipline, and informed insight to the subject not seen since Ernest Kurtz's Not-God, published forty years ago.

Focusing primarily on the eighteen months from October 1937, when a book was first proposed, and April 1939 when Alcoholics Anonymous was published, Schaberg's history is based on eleven years of research into the wealth of 1930s documents currently preserved in several A.A. archives. Woven together into an exciting narrative, these real-time documents tell an almost week-by-week story of how the book was created, providing more than a few unexpected turns and surprising departures from the hallowed stories that have been so widely circulated about early A.A. history.

Fast-paced, engaging, and contrary, Writing the Big Book presents a vivid picture of how early A.A. operated and grew and reveals many previously unreported details about the colorful cast of characters who were responsible for making that group so successful.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Author’s Note
• Chapter One Challenging the Creation Myths November 1934 to October 1937
• Chapter Two The Akron Vote October 13, 1937
• Chapter Three Meeting Mr. Richardson Late October to November 1937
• Chapter Four The Rockefeller Dinner December 1937
• Chapter Five Dr. Bob’s Hospital January to February 1938
• Chapter Six The Alcoholic Fund March to April 1938
• Chapter Seven Bill’s Stories Late May 1938
• Chapter Eight “There Is a Solution” Early June 1938
• Chapter Nine Hank’s Ideas Early June 1938
• Chapter Ten The Outline Late June 1938
• Chapter Eleven Chasing Testimonials July 1938
• Chapter Twelve The Alcoholic Foundation August 1938
• Chapter Thirteen This Week Magazine September to October 1938
• Chapter Fourteen “More About Alcoholism” and “We Agnostics” September 1938
• Chapter Fifteen The One Hundred Men Corporation October 1938
• Chapter Sixteen Meanwhile, Out in Akron … October to December 1938
• Chapter Seventeen “Working with Others” October to November 1938
• Chapter Eighteen “To Wives” October to November 1938
• Chapter Nineteen “The Family Afterward” and the Authorship Question October to November 1938
• Chapter Twenty Hank Parkhurst: Managing Editor and “To Employers” November 1938
• Chapter Twenty-One “The Q&A Chapter” November 1938
• Chapter Twenty-Two “A Vision for You” November 1938
• Chapter Twenty-Three Writing the Twelve Steps December 1938
• Chapter Twenty-Four Editing Bill’s Steps December 1938
• Chapter Twenty-Five “How It Works” and “Into Action” December 1938
• Chapter Twenty-Six The Book Goes to the Editor and Is Approved by the Board January 1939
• Chapter Twenty-Seven Editing the Manuscript January to March 1939
• Chapter Twenty-Eight The Multilith Printing February 1939
• Chapter Twenty-Nine Promoting and Editing the Multilith Copy March 1939
• Chapter Thirty Publication Day Late March to April 1939
• Chapter Thirty-One Aftermath April 1939
• Appendix I Frank Amos’s Notes on Akron, Ohio Survey (unedited version)
• Appendix II Hank’s May Letter to Bert Taylor on “The Publishing Firm”
• Appendix III May to June 1938 Versions of “There Is a Solution” and “Bill’s Story”
• Appendix IV Thomas Thacher’s Introduction to “Victors Anonymous”
• Appendix V Hank Parkhurst’s Outline for the Book
• Appendix VI Frank Amos’s “History of the Alcoholics Movement …”
• Appendix VII Bill Wilson’s “Sheep and Goats” Letter
• Appendix VIII Hank Parkhurst’s Proposed Q&A Chapter
• Appendix IX The Edited Text of “The Car Smasher”
• Appendix X Typed Memo to Bill Wilson March 24, 1939
• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• Index