Young Bill Wilson – Part Two
By bob k The Prequel Begins It was the night before Thanksgiving when the pains of child labor drove Emily Griffiths Wilson from preparations for the next day’s meal. Emily’s pains drove her from out...
AA Agnostica Blog
Young Bill Wilson – Part One
By bob k Part One (Prequel to a Prequel) War fever ran high in the New England town to which we new, young officers from Plattsburg were assigned, and we were flattered when the first...
Rob Ford: What he could expect in rehab
Most of us are familiar with the sad saga of Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto. The story has all the hallmarks of alcoholism, such as denial, enabling family members and friends, and destructive and...
An AA Pamphlet for Agnostics – The 1980s
By Roger C. In October, 1981, Ed S. wrote to the AA trustees’ Literature Committee and asked that the idea of preparing and publishing a “Conference-approved” pamphlet for agnostics and atheists in the fellowship...
Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group
By bob k The founder of the Oxford movement – a Christian evangelical movement and the birthplace of AA – Frank Nathaniel Daniel Buchman was born in the small town (pop. 1,200) of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, on June...
Drink
By Amelia C. Ann Dowsett Johnston’s Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, as the title suggests, is an examination of the special issues that women face as alcoholics and as both participants...
The Proactive Twelve Steps
By Serge Prengel Many years ago, I started re-writing the Twelve Steps in order to better understand the process they describe by “translating” the wording of the Steps into language that felt clearer to...
Booting the bastards out
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782) By Roger...
Charles B. Towns
By bob k December 11, 1934 Bill Wilson should have been desperate, depressed, and beyond all optimism, when he arrived at Towns Hospital to undergo a fourth and final detox. Following his Armistice Day...
The Church of the Divine Dipsomaniac
By Brent P. W.C. Fields, the great comic actor of the 1920s and 30s, was both an unapologetic alcoholic and atheist. Near the end of his life in 1946, when he was confined to...
And when we were wrong…
By Frank M. I wanted to do this thing right. I wanted to do it by the Big Book. In fact I was pretty sure I needed to, because I appeared to be dying....
Clarence Snyder: Almost Co-Founder
By bob k From time to time, various names are suggested as being worthy of “co-founder” status, for contributions leading AA to be what it is today. People such as Dr. Silkworth, William James,...
Faces & Voices of Recovery
By Patricia Taylor Faces & Voices of Recovery is the national American voice of the organized addiction recovery community. With over 30,000 members, we work to improve the lives of the millions of Americans...
What is SOS?
The History of Secular Organizations for Sobriety — Save Our Selves: An Interview with James Christopher By William L. White Introduction For more than a quarter of a century, James Christopher, founder of Secular Organizations...
