Podcasts of various AA speakers (also in iTunes)

Books About A.A. History

These books explore the early history of Alcoholics Anonymous and the people who started a movement that would expand throughout the developed world to help millions.


1. Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous
Ernest Kurtz provides a thoughtful and in-depth history of the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous and explains the spiritual aspects of the recovery program.


2. Bill W
"The Absorbing and Deeply Moving Life Story of Bill Wilson, Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous" is based on interviews with the founder of A.A. and those who were closest to him.


3. Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.
Mel B. describes the events that lead up to Ebby making a call on Bill W. and gives us insight into why Ebby himself found it difficult to remain sober.


4. The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous
The story of A.A.'s birth at Dr. Bob's Home in Akron on June 10, 1935. It tells what early AAs did in their meetings, homes, and hospital visits; what they read; and how their ideas developed from the Bible, the Oxford Group, and Christian literature. By Dick B.


5. The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous
Dick B's comprehensive history of the origins, principles, practices, and contributions to A.A. of "A First Century Christian Fellowship" (also known as The Oxford Group) of which A.A. was an integral part in the developmental period between 1931 and 1939.


6. Anne Smith's Journal, 1933-1939
Dr. Bob's wife, Anne, kept a journal in the 1930's from which she shared with early AAs and their families ideas from the Bible and the Oxford Group. Her ideas substantially influenced A.A.'s program.


7. A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann
"The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous & Pioneer Public Health Educator" by David and Sally Brown.


8. Grateful to Have Been There
"My 42 Years with Bill &amp Lois & the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous" by Neil Wing.


9. That Amazing Grace
"The Role of Clarence &amp Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous" by Dick B.

The two most recent books out for AA history lovers...

10. 1000 Years of Sobriety  
by William Borchert, Michael Fitzpatrick

11. We Recovered Too - The Family Groups' Beginnings in the Pioneers  
by Michael Fitzpatrick

“Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers”

Christ said 'Of myself, I am nothing-My strength cometh from my Father in heaven.' If He had to say that, Dr Bob asked, how about you and me? Did you say it? Did I say it? No-that's exactly what we didn't say. We were inclined to say instead 'Look me over boys. Pretty good, huh?' We had no humility, no sense of having received anything through the grace of our Heavenly Father.

On his desk, Dr. Bob had a plaque defining humility: “Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.”
“Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” pg. 222