The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)

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Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism (nicknamed "The Big Book" because of the thickness of the paper used in the first edition) is a 1939 basic text describing how to seek recovery from alcoholism. The Big Book was written by William G. Bill W." Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA or A.A.), with the help of various editors. The composition process was not collaborative other than editing. Bill W. wrote all the book's chapters except "To Employers", which was authored by Bill W.'s right-hand man, Hank Parkhurst. Parkhurst influenced the more liberal notions of "God as we understand him" and "your own conception of God." Bill W.'s group in New York and Robert Holbrook Smith (a.k.a. "Dr. Bob"), the other AA founder, in Akron, Ohio, exchanged drafts of sections. Dr. Bob made no major changes. It is the predecessor of the well-known "twelve-step method" widely used to treat various addiction conditions and...

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