Big Book Study

[bluidkiti]

Big Book Study - Post #4

A BIG Thanks! to karen for posting for me - problems with my DSL at home!

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.

Jim