AA Big Book Audio mp3 Files - Toledo AA Meetings

AA Big Book Audio Files (mp3) Streaming

A Brief History of The AA Big Book

In May 1938, when Bill W. began work on the first draft of what is now the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, he had been sober about three and a half years. Dr. Bob was sober a few months less than three years, and the other 100 early members who contributed in one way or another to the writing of the book had been sober for periods ranging from a couple of years to a couple of months.

The early members realized the book would need a “story” section. “We would have to produce evidence in the form of living proof, written testimonials of our membership itself. It was felt also that the story section could identify us with the distant reader in a way that the text itself might not.”

Dr. Bob and the members in Akron, Ohio led this effort. One member of the Akron Group was a former newspaperman with two years of sobriety, named Jim.He and Dr. Bob “went after all the Akronites who had substantial sobriety records for testimonial material. In most cases Jim interviewed the prospects and wrote their stories for them. Dr. Bob wrote his own.” By January, the Akron Group had come up with 18 stories.

In New York, where there was no one with writing expertise, they decided that each member with substantial sobriety would write his own story. When Bill and a fellow member turned to edit these “amateur attempts,” there were objections. “Who were we, said the writers, to edit their stories? That was a good question, but still we did edit them. The cries of the anguished edited tale-tellers finally subsided and the story section of the book was complete in the latter part of January 1939. So, at last, was the text.” – For the complete history of the AA Big Book read this pdf file.

A.A. Big Book Audio Files mp3 – Streaming

Preface, Forewords & The Doctor’s Opinion1