Big Book Study - Post #4
Jim K
Good morning everyone!
We're still on page xvii of the foreword to the second edition. The book describes two centers of activity around 1936. AA's group number three was founded in
Cleveland, Clarence S. was a major factor in the success of AA in Cleveland (he started the first group to use the name "Alcoholics Anonymous"), and by late 1937 there were 40 members sober in this nameless group of drunks. Bill returned to Akron
and, with 18 others, decided to: (1) open a chain of hospitals, (2) use paid missionaries to spread the word, and (3) write a book.
Up until this time the society was nameless. In the process of writing the book and naming it (1938), our Fellowship received its name. There were several titles being considered for the book: "The Way Out”, "100 Men”, "Comes the Dawn”, among others. (We could
have been known as "Way Outs" instead of AAs!) They settled on "Alcoholics Anonymous" and our society took the title of the book to be the name of our fellowship.
Turning to page xix, paragraph 1, the evolution of the 12 Traditions is described and confirmed in 1950. At the top of
page xx we see the statistics of success: "Of
those alcoholics who came to AA and really tried 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses...".
Can we boast of such numbers today?
The Doctor's Opinion - page xxiii (page xxv in the 4th Edition) was originally found on page 1 of the main text in 1939 when the first edition of the book was published. It was moved to the section preceding the main section of the text in the
second edition because of comment from literary figures. The patient described in paragraph 2 of the letter is
Bill Wilson in November of 1934 at Towns Hospital. The doctor is
William D. Silkworth, "the little doctor who loved drunks," who treated cocaine addicts and alcoholics.
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"We of Alcoholics
Anonymous believe that the reader will be interested in the medical estimate of the plan of recovery described in this book. Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the sufferings of our members and have witnessed
our return to health. A well known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction, gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter:
To Whom It May Concern:
I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years.
In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent business man of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless.
In the course of his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise
with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.
I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely.
These facts appear to be of extreme medical importance; because of the extraordinary possibilities of rapid growth inherent in this group they may mark a new epoch in the annals of alcoholism. These men may well have a remedy for thousands of such situations.
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) - - - - -M.D."
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At the end of the letter on page xxiv, Dr. Silkworth DID NOT SIGN the letter in the first edition of the book. With our next post we'll discuss why he didn't sign that letter. Then we'll finish the Doctor's Opinion.
Have a great day!
Jim K. - The
Into Action Group of Manhattan
6:30pm Wednesdays at St. Francis
De Sales Church
135 East 96th Street (Near Lexington
Avenue)
On Manhattan's Upper East Side
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The Wilson House – The Birthplace of Bill Wilson - Weekend Retreats and Workshops -http://www.wilsonhouse.org/