Decoding the Big Book - Forwards to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition

the overall message of AA. Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of AA, was looking for a prominent person or organization to write a preface endorsing the program of action highlighted in the big book. And because of this, the publishing was delayed. Bill Sheinberg, the writer of writing the big book from his YouTube channel, di who Bill Wilson had his eyes on.

super drive guy. And Bill just chased Henry Ford all over the place, left and right for months and months and months before the book came out, trying to get him to to write a foreword for this book. As late as March of 1939, just a just a month before the book was published, Bill traveled to Detroit to get an interview with Henry Ford, But he didn't get it. But he did get to manage travel lunch with two of Ford's gatekeepers who'd been

given the most Lewis copy. And but they were unimpressed and they declined to pass it along to Henry Ford.

maintain sobriety. It's interesting to note that the foreword established the concept of singleness of purpose well before the adoption of the 12 traditions in 1950. Since the initial publication, the foreword has undergone revisions and updates which provide readers with additional insights into the organization, Women's History, Mission and Purpose. It's a testament to the enduring power of AA and its ability to help people overcome addiction

and lead fulfilling lives. The foreword is a critical piece of literature in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It serves as an introduction to the organization and its purpose, as well as providing readers with a brief history of how AA came to be. The Forward's importance is emphasized by its placement at the beginning of the book and its continued presence in subsequent editions.

Preface to the fourth edition. This is the fourth edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The first edition appeared in April 1939, and in the following six years, more than 300,000 copies went into circulation. The second edition, published in 1955, reached a total of more than 1,150,500 copies. The third edition, which came off the press in 1976, ac a circulation of approximately 19,550,000 in all formats.

because this book has become the basic text for our society and has helped such a large number of alcoholic men and women to recovery, there exists strong sentiment against any radical changes being made in it. Therefore, the first portion of this volume describing the AA recovery program has been largely left untouched in the course of revisions made for the second, third and fourth

editions. The section called the Doctor's opinion has been kept intact just as it was written in 1939 by the late Dr. William D Silk Worth. Our society's great medical benefactor, the second edition, added The appendices, the 12 traditions and the directions for getting in touch with AA. But the chief change was in the section of personal stories, which was expanded to reflect the Fellowship's growth. Bill Story Dr. Bob's Nightmare and one other personal history from the first edition remain

intact. Three were edited, and one of these was retitled New Versions of Two Stories were written with new titles. 30 completely new stories were added, and the stories section was divided into three parts under the same headings that are used now. In the third edition. Part one Pioneers of AA was left unchanged. Nine of the stories in part two they stopped in time were carried over from the second edition. Eight new stories were added in part three The Lost. Nearly all eight

stories were retained. Five new ones were added. This fourth edition includes the 12 concepts for World Service and revises the three sections of personal stories as follows. One new story has been added a Part one and two that originally appeared in part three have been repositioned. Their six stories have been deleted. Six of the stories in part two have been carried over. 11 new ones have been added and 11 taken out. P three now includes 12 new

stories. Eight were removed in addition to the two that were transferred to part one. All changes made over the years in the big book. A member's fond nickname for this volume have had the same purpose to represent the current membership of Alcoholics Anonymous more accurately and thereby reach more alcoholics. If you have a drinking problem, we hope you may pause in reading one of the 42 personal stories and think Yes has happened to me. Or more important, yes, I felt like that

were most important. Yes. I believe this program can work for me too. Forward to the first

edition. This is the forward as it appeared in the first printing of the first edition in 1939. We have Alcoholics Anonymous are more than 100 men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book for them. We hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary.

We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all. It is important that we remain anonymous because we are too few and present to handle the overwhelming number of personal appeals which may result from this publication being mostly business or professional folk. We could not well carry on our occupations in

such an event. We would like it understood that our alcoholic work is an avocation. When writing or speaking publicly about our alcoholism, we urge each of our fellowship to omit his personal name, designated himself instead as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Very earnestly, we ask the press also to observe this request, for otherwise we shall be greatly handicapped We are not an organization in the conventional sense of the word. There are no

fees or dues whatsoever. The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking. We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone. We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted. We shall be interested to hear from those who are getting results from this book, particularly from those who have commenced work with other alcoholics. We should like to be helpful. In such cases, inquiry by scientific, medical and religious societies

will be welcomed. Alcoholics Anonymous

foreword to the second edition figures given in this forward described the fellowship as it was in 1955. Since the original foreword to this book was written in 1939, a wholesale miracle has taken place. Our earliest printing voice, the hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination already continues this early text. Twos and threes and fives of us have sprung up in other

communities. 16 years have elapsed between our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition in that brief space. Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics. Groups are to be found in each of the United States and all the provinces of Canada. AA has flourished. Communities in the British Isles, the Scandinavian countries. South Africa. South America. Mexico. Alaska. Australia and

Hawaii. all told. Promising beginnings have been made in some 50 foreign countries and U.S. possessions. So are just now taking shape in Asia. Many of her friends encourage us by saying that this is but a beginning. Only the augury of a much larger future ahead. The spark that was the flare into the first AA group was struck in Akron, Ohio, in June 1935 during a talk between a New York stockbroker and an Akron

physician. Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford groups of that day. He had been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D Silk Wirth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by AA members, and whose story in the early days of our society appears in the next pages from

this doctor. The broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism, though he could not accept all the tenants of the Oxford groups. He was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of the belief in and dependence upon God. Prior to His journey to Akron.

The broker had worked hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an alcoholic could help an alcoholic, but he had succeeded only in keeping himself sober. The broker had gone to Akron on a business venture which had collapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he might start drinking again. He suddenly realized that in order to save himself, he must carry the message to another alcoholic. That alcoholic turned out to be the Akron physician.

This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means to resolve his alcoholic dilemma, b had failed. when the broker gave him Dr. Silk Wirth's description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never before been able to muster. He sobered never to drink again up to the moment of his death in 1950. This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another, as no, now an alcoholic

could. It also indicated that strenuous work one alcoholic to another was vital to permanent recovery. Hence the two men set to work almost frantically upon alcoholics arriving in the ward of the Akron City hospital. Their very first case, a desperate one, recovered immediately and became AA number three. He never had another drink. This work at Akron continued through the summer of 1935. There were many failures, but there was an occasional

heartening success. When the broker returned to New York in the fall of 1935, the first AA group had actually been formed. Though no one realized it at the time, a second small group promptly took shape in New York to be followed in 1937 with the start of a third at Cleveland. Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akron or New York and were trying to form groups in other

cities. By late 1937, the number of members having substantial sobriety time behind them was significant to convince the membership that a new light had entered the dark world of the alcoholic. It was now time the struggling groups thought to place their message and unique experience before the world. This determination bore fruit. In the spring of 1939, by the publication of this volume, the membership had then reached

about 100 men and women. the fledgling society, which had been nameless, now began to be called Alcoholics Anonymous. From the title of its own book, The Flying Blind, period ended and AA entered a new phase of its pioneering time with the appearance of the new book. A great deal had begun to happen. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the noted clergyman, reviewed it with approval in the fall of 1939. Fulton Osler, then editor of Liberty, printed a piece in his magazine called Alcoholics

and God. This brought a rush of 800 frantic inquiries into the little New York office, which meanwhile, had been established. Each inquiry was painstakingly answered. Pamphlets and books were sent out. Businessmen traveling out of existing groups were referred to these prospective newcomers. new groups started up, and it was found, to the astonishment of everyone that a message could be transmitted in the mail as well

as by word of mouth. By the end of 1939, it was estimated that 800 alcoholics were on their way to recovery. In spring 1940, John D. Rockefeller Jr gave a dinner for many of his friends, to which he invited AA members to tell their stories. News of this got on the world's wires. Inquiries poured in again, and many people went to the bookstores to get the book. Alcoholics Anonymous. By March 1941, the membership had shot up

to 2000. Then Jack Alexander wrote a feature article in the Saturday Evening Post and placed such a compelling picture of AA before the general public that alcoholics in need of help really deluged us. By the close of 1941, AA numbered 8000 members. The mushrooming process was in full swing. AA had become a national institution. Our society then entered a fearsome and exciting adolescent period.

the tests that it faced was this Could these large numbers of erstwhile erratic alcoholics successfully meet and work together? Would there be quarrels over membership, leadership and money? Would there be strivings for power and prestige? Would there be schisms which would split aa apart? Soon, AA was beset by these very problems on every side and in

every group. But out of this frightening and at first disrupting experience, the conviction grew that Ace had to hang together or die separately as a unifier, fellowship or pass off the scene. as we discovered the principles by which the individual alcoholic could live. So we had to evolve principles by which the AA groups and AA as a whole could survive and function effectively. It was thought that no alcoholic man or woman could be excluded from our society, that our leaders might

serve but never govern. that each group was to be autonomous, and there was to be no professional class of therapy. There were to be no fees or dues. Our expenses were to be met by our own voluntary contributions. There was to be the least possible organization, even in our service centers. Our public relations were to be based upon attraction rather than promotion. It was decided that all members ought to be anonymous at the level of press, radio, TV and

films. And in no circumstances should we give endorsements, make alliances, or enter public controversies. This was the substance of RS 12 traditions which are stated in full on page 561 of this book. though none of these principles had the force of rules or laws, they had become so widely accepted by 1950 that they were confirmed by our first international conference held in Cleveland. Today, the remarkable unity of AA is one of the greatest assets

that our society has. While the internal difficulties of our adolescence period were being ironed out, public acceptance of AA grew by leaps and bounds. For this, there were two principal reasons the large numbers of recoveries and reunited homes. These made their impressions everywhere of alcoholics who came to AA and really tried. 50% got sober at once and remain that way. 25% sobered up after some relapses. And among the remainder, those who stayed on with AA showed improvement.

Other thousands came to a few AA meetings and at first decided they didn't want the program. But great numbers of these, about two out of three began to return as time passed. Another reason for the wide acceptance of AA was the ministration of Friends, friends in medicine, religion and the press, together with innumerable others who became are able and persistent advocates. Without such support, AA could only have made the slowest of progress. Some of the recommendations of AA was early.

Medical and religious friends will be found further on in this book. Alcoholics Anonymous is not a religious organization. It is AA. Take any particular medical point of view, though. We cooperate widely with the men of medicine as well as with the men of religion. Alcohol being no respecter of persons, we are an accurate cross-section of America and in distant lands. The same democratic evening up process is now going on. My personal religious affiliation.

We include Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus and a sprinkling of Moslems and Buddhists. More than 15% of us are women. At present our membership is pyramid ing at a rate of about 20% a year so far upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world. We have made only a scratch. In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem in all its ramifications upon therapy for the alcoholic himself. We surely

have no monopoly. Yet it's our great hope and all those who have yet found no answer, they begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new Freedom. Forward to the third edition. By March 1976,

when this edition went to the printer. total worldwide membership of Alcoholics Anonymous was conservatively estimated at more than 1 million, with almost 28,000 groups meeting in over 90 countries. Surveys of groups in the United States and Canada indicate that AA is reaching out not only to more and more people, but to a wider and wider range. Women now make up more than one fourth of the membership Among newer members, the proportion is

nearly one third. 7% of the AA surveyed are less than 30 years of age. Among them any in their teens. The basic principles of the AA program, it appears, hold good for individuals with many different lifestyles. Just as the program has brought recovery to those many different nationalities, the 12 steps that summarize the program may be called lost or say, pesos in one country. Let's do say the topos

in another. But they trace exactly the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous. In spite of the great increase in size and the span of this fellowship. At its core, it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks to another alcoholic sharing experience, strength and hope.

Forward to the fourth edition. This fourth edition of Alcoholics Anonymous came off the press in November 2001 at the start of a new millennium. since the third edition was published in 1976. Worldwide membership of AA has just about doubled to an estimated 2 million or more, with nearly 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world.

Literature has played a major role in Asia's growth and a striking phenomenon of the past quarter century has been the explosion of translations of our basic literature in many languages and dialects. country after country where the seed was planted, it has taken root slowly at first, then growing by leaps and bounds when literature has become available. Currently, Alcoholics Anonymous has been translated into 43 languages as the message of recovery has reached larger numbers of people.

It has also touched the lives of a vastly greater variety of suffering alcoholics. When the phrase We are people who normally would not mix Page 17 of this book was written in 1939, it referred to a fellowship composed largely of men and a few women with quite similar social, ethnic and economic backgrounds. like so much of AA is basic text. Those words have proved to be far more visionary than the founding members could

have ever imagined. The stories added to this edition represent a membership whose characteristics of age, gender, race and culture have widened and have deepened to encompass virtually everyone. The first 100 members could have hoped to reach our literature has preserve the integrity of the AA message, sweeping changes in society as a whole. Are reflected in new customs and practices within the fellowship taking advantage of

technological advances. For example, a members with computers can participate in meetings online, sharing with fellow alcoholics across the country or around the world, and any meeting anywhere, AA has share experience, strength and hope with each other in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem to modem or face to face. AA Speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.