On Cultivating Tolerance – by Dr. Bob S.
Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc July 1944 During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but...
Category: Newsletter/Magazine Cuttings
Adequate Hospitalization: One Great Need – by Bill W.
Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., May 1947 Many sanitariums and private hospitals are necessarily too high priced for the average alcoholic, Public hospitals being too few, asylums and religious institutions too seldom available,...
A Fragment of History – By Bill W.
Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc, July 1953 AA’s are always asking: “Where did the Twelve Steps come from?” In the last analysis, perhaps nobody knows. Yet some of the events which led to their...
The Fundamentals – In Retrospect – By Dr. Bob S.
It is gratifying to feel that one belongs to and has a definite personal part in the work of a growing and spiritually prospering organization for the release of the alcoholics of mankind from...
A.A. Groups’ Dilemma: Those Other Addictions
The influx of nonalcoholic drug addicts into A.A. meeting halls is a matter of growing concern to A.A. groups in the U.S. and Canada. Groups are also concerned over the effect that alcoholics with...
Why Alcoholics Anonymous is Anonymous – by Bill W.
As never before the struggle for power, importance, and wealth is tearing civilization apart. Man against man, family against family, group against group, nation against nation. Nearly all those engaged in this fierce competition...
Dr. Silkworth’s Rx for Sobriety
Anyone who tried to impress a drinking alcoholic with the approach, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” would probably draw a scornful, “So what! Who wants any cake? Tony, make it...
‘My name is… and I’m an alcoholic’
It’s a phrase heard in A.A. meetings around the world. But where does it come from? Why do we say it? And should we keep doing so? Surely, identification is an important concept in...
13th Stepping:Why It’s a Problem, Not a Solution
Much is said but little is written about the practice commonly referred to as 13th-stepping- which takes place when a more-or-less-seasoned A.A. member acts out a sexual attraction to a newcomer, often under the...
After Months at Sea The Hand of A.A. Is There
When A.A.s talk about service, they generally mean making coffee for the group, acting as general service representative, answering phones at the local central office, or taking meetings to a hospital or prison. But...
When your hut’s on fire
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming....
Dilemmas Encountered by A.A.s Working in the Field of Alcoholism
A.A. members who work in the field of alcoholism (formerly called two hatters) confront many issues and are beset with many dilemmas not commonly found in other occupations. Professional practices may, at times, seem...
Sponsorship – a perspective
Alcoholics were being admitted to hospitals, dried out and nursed to health much before A.A. was founded. However, most would abstain from drinking for a short while and thereafter revert. They would soon reach...
A Different Kind of Freedom – Traveling With the Big Book
Some A.A.s in the Central New York Area who carry the message into prisons have also found a way to “carry” some inmates out from behind the walls and make them a unique part...
A.A.s in India Build Ever-Widening ‘Road of Happy Destiny’
Early in May A.A.s in India joyfully gathered for the 27th General Service Conference of A.A. in India. Conference members were seated in the front and, unlike our Conference, other A.A.s and Al-Anons could...
What Happened?
That question is being asked by a lot of alcoholics lately. What happened to our high success rate? 30 & 40 years ago, we were keeping 75% or more of the alcoholics who came...
The Elusive Origins of the Serenity Prayer
For many years, long after the Serenity Prayer became attached to the very fabric of the Fellowship’s life and thought, its exact origin, its actual author, have played a tantalizing game of hide and...
Man On the Bed: A.A. Number Three
Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to be twelfth-stepped by Bill W. and Dr. Bob? Well, Bill D., a well-known attorney and Akron city councilman, who in the summer of...
