Aa history Lovers 2006 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page

How far in advance are host cities being selected (at

this point in AA history) for international conventions?
Thank you,

Jim
---------------------------------

Want to be your own boss? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
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++++Message 3793. . . . . . . . . . . . AA Internationals -- how many

attended each?

From: ROGER WHEATLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/13/2006 5:52:00 PM
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Thank you for this list of AA International Conventions.

Do any of you History Lovers know the attendance records

for each of these events?
I often get a chuckle from listening to conversations

where the actual attendance numbers are reported and keep

growing and growing each time the story is told, kind of

like a fishing story or a my bottom was worse than yours

story.
I have heard 60,000, 85,000, and 1 million being shared

at AA gatherings by well intentioned people trying to share

the magnitude of these gatherings. I believe they are

shared in Grapevines after each, and I don't think we have

in reality quite broken 50,000 registered. Any help would

be appreciated.

From: Diz Titcher . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/13/2006 8:08:00 AM

was held and where? I was wondering if it was the

dinner for Dr. Silkworth or did they have one for

Bill earlier?

Tallahassee

Big Book

printing of the Big Book (Red Hard Back), there were

some free copies mailed out to certain people such

as Doctors and Stock Holders etc.

available?" Also can you tell how many copies have

turned up as of this date?
I am trying to validate the copy I have and want

to see if this is one that was originally sent out.

help I would be very grateful.

From: Mitchell K. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/16/2006 6:10:00 PM

appreciation dinner held in honor of Dr. Bob in Cleveland (October

1941). Post 3754 gives some details.
Mitchell
>

> Does anyone know when the first Gratitude dinner

> was held and where? I was wondering if it was the

> dinner for Dr. Silkworth or did they have one for

> Bill earlier?

>

> Diz T.

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Recovery

"The Five Best Books Behind 12 Step Recovery"

Anonymous, 12 Step societies are now available to

deal with a wide spectrum of human problems and

addictions. There is Al-Anon for relatives and

friends of alcoholics, Narcotics Anonymous for

hard-drug addicts, Gamblers Anonymous for compulsive

gamblers, Overeaters Anonymous for persons with

eating disorders, and numerous other fellowships

patterned after the original AA model. These

self-help groups are so popular that they can

even be parodied on TV for guaranteed laughs.
How did it all start? The primary founder of AA

was an alcoholic named Bill W., who got sober in

1934 and then linked up with an Akron, Ohio, physician,

Dr. Bob S., to launch the fellowship. Most of their

principles came from the Oxford Group, a spiritual

movement later known as Moral Re-Armament and today

called Initiatives of Change.
Certain books were also important for AA's success,

and the five best are listed here.

______________________________
The Varieties of Religious Experience

by William James

Longmans, Green and Co., 1902

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Based on James' Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion

given at Edinburgh in 1901-1902, this ponderously

written book was handed to AA founder Bill W. while

he was hospitalized following what turned out to be

his final binge. Despite the difficulty of reading

James' weighty prose, Bill W. gleaned from the book

three essentials that he later wove into the 12 Steps.

James had argued that various conversion experiences

could have validity and value, and had cited case

histories to make the point. Wilson observed that each

person studied had met complete defeat in a controlling

area of life, had acknowledged this defeat, and had

reached a new state of consciousness by appealing to

a Higher Power. This process had resulted in positive

outcomes.
One of the cases cited by James was that of S.H.

Hadley, whose conversion experience had lifted him

from the life of a homeless alcoholic to find permanent

sobriety and become a leader in the famous Water Street

Mission founded by Jerry McAuley, another ex-drunk.

Just before reading James' book, Wilson had undergone

a spiritual experience of his own, and it helped

immensely to have such a change ratified by James,

often acknowledged as the father of American psychology.

______________________________

Fleming H. Revell Company, 1909

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Long before "born again" became a household term,

British journalist Harold Begbie discovered that a

number of seemingly hopeless alcoholics in London

had been restored to sobriety and useful living

through the evangelizing work of The Salvation Army.

It so amazed him that he presented their personal

stories in this book dedicated to William James. As

Begbie saw it, the humble work of the Salvationists

had achieved recoveries that were beyond the reach

of legislators and social workers. "There is no

medicine, no Act of Parliament, no moral treatise,

and no invention of philanthropy which can transform

a man radically bad into a man radically good," he

wrote. "If the State, burdened and shackled by its

hordes of outcasts and sinners, would march freely

and efficiently to its goal, it must be at the hands

of religion that relief is sought. Only religion can

perform the miracle which will convert the burden

into assistance. There is nothing else; there can

be nothing else."
In 1923 Begbie published "More Twice-Born Men,"

describing spiritual changes in what became known

as the Oxford Group, the parent society of AA. It

was the Oxford Group's success in helping alcoholics

that led to the formation of AA. It's also very likely

that Begbie's first book helped inspire this work.

This close connection makes it certain that the Oxford

Group members were familiar with "Twice Born Men" and

were convinced that its approach was the solution to

alcoholism.

______________________________
The Common Sense of Drinking, by Richard R. Peabody

Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 1937

(from earlier papers copyrighted in 1930 and 1931)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Richard R. Peabody, a member of the distinguished

Boston family, was an alcoholic who recovered in the

Boston Emmanuel Movement, a successful spiritual

program operating under a unit of the Episcopal Church.

He became a lay therapist specializing in treating

alcoholics and trained several others in his methods.

Working first in Boston and then in New York City, he

helped gain acceptance of alcoholism as an illness

rather than a sin or a result of weak will power. He

also promoted the suggestion that alcoholism was partly

the result of an inborn physical cause, a view that

has standing today with medical professionals in the

field. Peabody emphasized "surrender" and "honesty"

as basic requirements for recovery, as does AA today.

He had no group support system, however, and his form

of lay therapy did not survive beyond the 1950s. But

his understanding of alcoholism influenced doctors who

worked in the field, and his book appears to have been

used by Bill W. in writing AA's basic text.

______________________________

HarperCollins, New York, 1934

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Emmet Fox was a New York minister who attracted

a large following from 1931 until his death in 1951.

Bill W. and other AA pioneers attended his lectures

in the late 1930s and used this book as a practical

guide in facing personal problems. Like Norman Vincent

Peale and others who followed, Fox emphasized the

necessity for maintaining a positive mental attitude,

finding daily guidance through prayer, releasing

resentments, and forgiving others -- all practices

that are current in AA today. His book was a staple

at many early AA meetings until the society developed

its own basic text.

______________________________

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York,

1939, 1955, 1976, 2001.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Called the "Big Book" in AA parlance, this is

virtually sacred text in the 12 Step Movement. It

was first published in 1939 when the society had

about 100 members and it continues to be the basic

guidebook for AA activity. Its publication led to

the rapid formation of AA groups throughout North

America. More than 24 million copies of its four

editions have been sold and it is now available in

52 languages. A portion of its Fifth Chapter, which

includes the 12 Steps, is read at almost every AA

meeting in the U.S. and other countries. Almost

unchanged over the years have been the first 164

pages, which cover Bill W.'s story and the society's

explanation of alcoholism and how to recover.

Personal stories make up the rest of the book,

and these have been changed with each edition to

provide a variety of recovery experiences.
The AA society, first part of the Oxford Group,

acquired its own name from the book and became

fully independent in late 1939. It would be difficult

to exaggerate the importance of the book to AA members.

Copies of the first printing of the first edition

now fetch as much as $7 thousand on the used-book

market. Other 12 Step fellowships either use the

Big Book or have patterned their own basic texts

after it.

______________________________

melb@accesstoledo.com (melb at accesstoledo.com)

http://www.walkindryplaces.com/

From: ny-aa@att.net . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/20/2006 9:50:00 AM

were started on a city-by-city basis? I'm sure someone was

sticking pins in a map of the United States. It would be

interesting to know the sequence in which those pins were

added. The same could be done country-by-country.
I picture the growth of AA as something like the spread

of a new strain of virus. (I'm not calling AA a "virus"

but it is a useful concept to study.) When did AA reach

each major population and how fast did it grow in each of

those "colonies" once it was there? If known, "the

begats"

AA from one city to another.

From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/23/2006 12:47:00 PM

(MERCAA) at http://aainarabia.junomaritime.com/index.html

Arabic world and questions about the Big Book in Arabic

(AAWS published a translation in 1990).
This website contains information about AA in a number

of Middle Eastern countries:

AL AIN

CAIRO

EGYPT

JORDAN

LEBANON

QATAR

SHARJAH
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From: Trysh Travis . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/21/2006 9:04:00 AM

city-by-city growth, and I think the virus image

is a useful one. In *Not-God,* Kurtz talks about

the role that salesmen played in spreading the word

of AA in early days, especially before there was

a lot of official literature. It would be great

to know more about who carried the message from

place to place-- to know not only when the pins

went into the map (to extend the image used earlier),

but how different places served as proverbial

switching points for AA ideas.
Wally P's *But for the Grace of God* gives some

information that can be used to re-create this

picture -- for instance, the first group was formed

in Dallas (my hometown!) in 1943 when Ralph B. was

transferred from Detroit to Dallas and Esther E.

moved up to Dallas from Houston (p.98). AA in

Houston and in Detroit was begun by people who

carried the message to those towns straight from

Cleveland and Akron, so we can see a clear

through-line from the Good Old-Timers in Ohio

on into Dallas.
Not all of Wally P.'s entries have the kind of

information necessary to make these connections,

but I think his book and some local histories,

if combined, would yield the beginnings of the

"map" we need.
Trysh T.
ny-aa@att.net wrote:

> Does anyone have a list of when Alcoholics Anonymous groups

> were started on a city-by-city basis? I'm sure someone was

> sticking pins in a map of the United States. It would be

> interesting to know the sequence in which those pins were

> added. The same could be done country-by-country.

>

> I picture the growth of AA as something like the spread

> but it is a useful concept to study.) When did AA reach

> each major population and how fast did it grow in each of

> those "colonies" once it was there? If known, "the

begats"

> would be interesting showing the path of propagation of

>

>

>

>

>

>

From: Carter Elliott . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/23/2006 11:14:00 PM

GSO "many things", will be happy to know he's

recovering from a stroke (which he had two weeks ago)

at his Idaho home.

From: Ernest Kurtz . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/24/2006 2:27:00 PM

AA, I have come across the claim that "the West Baltimore group [was]

the first home group with a page on the internet. We went up on June

26, 1994."

second? And when? And, perhaps, why? Primarily Twelfth-Stepping? Or

perhaps a new way to provide such services as informing current AAs of

meeting times, places, and other resources? Did such early service come

via a group conscience or by way of one or a few enthusiastic and

technically adept individuals?

online" became "online AA"?