Boston Globe Article
AA Big Book, 4th Edition
January 2002
AA's growing pains evident in revision of its
Big Book Group stresses
mission as reason for changing stories By David Mehegan, Globe
Staff,
12/26/2001
Perennial bestsellers mostly are famous: the Bible, Homer's
''Odyssey,''
''How to Win Friends and Influence People,'' ''Anna Karenina,
''The Lord of
the Rings.'' But not all hot books are famous. Outside its circle
of
influence, one of the hottest books of the past 60 years is almost
unknown.
> Its title is ''Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many
Thousands of
Men and Women Have Recovered From Alcoholism.'' But to the
millions who live
by it, it's known simply as the Big Book.
Written by AA cofounder William G. Wilson (''Bill W.'') with
help from
cofounder Robert H. Smith (''Dr. Bob'') and other early members,
and
published in 1939, the Big Book has sold more than 21 million
copies. It has
been translated into 43 languages. Yet you don't see it in
bookstores. They can get the book, but it's usually ordered directly from AA
World
Services, the publisher. In 62 years, the price has risen, of
course: from
$3.50 to $5.
Until now, the Big Book had been revised only twice: in 1955
and 1976. Now
the fourth edition is just off the press, and its painstaking revision is a window into the delicacy of
tinkering
with a book that many people revere as inspired scripture. AA was founded in 1935. When there were about 100 members,
Wilson and
Smith decided they needed a text if the movement were to continue
to grow.
Wilson wrote most of the first 164 pages, outlining the
philosophy,
principles, and method, and collaborated with Smith and the other
members in
pulling together the rest of the book, which consists of 42
personal
testimonies of recovered alcoholics.
The first edition's stories were mostly by white men, coming
out of the
world of the teens, 1920s, and Great Depression. But since AA was
open to
all, other kinds of people began to join: more women, Indians,
African-Americans. So in 1955 Wilson revised the book himself
(Smith died in
1950), leaving the first 164 pages alone, but substituting many
new stories,
from a newly varied membership, for old ones. Wilson died in 1971,
and
several years later the book was revised a second time, by a
committee.
Again stories were changed, but again the first 164 pages
were left alone.
> The new edition retains 16 stories from previous editions,
including
several by the pioneers, and adds 24 new ones.
Once again, however, the first 164 pages were left untouched.
> Why not revise those pages? As explained by Richard, of
Chicago, a trained
historian who chaired the revision committee, ''In the culture of
AA, you
don't mess with the words of the founding members. We had to be
clear that the part written for all time was not what we were working
on.''
The importance of the Big Book to most committed AA members
can hardly be
overstated. (It is also used by many other addiction-fighting
groups, such
as Overeaters Anonymous.) In their various ways, they trust it and
they love it. ''When they give it to you,'' says David, 39, of Boston,
''they say, `It's
terribly written, and it will save your life.' When you read the
first 164
pages, it is unvarnished mid-century prose: clunky, awkward, and
quite
wonderful, full of phrases you can't imagine anyone writing
anytime after
> World War I, let alone 1939. But underneath the odd wording
and clunkiness
is this basic message of hope.'' ''It really did save my life,'' says Margaret, 43, of
Brookline. ''How did
they ever put these words together to make it so powerful? None of
the
stories put me off. I didn't think it was hokey. I soaked it up
and
identified with every sentence. It grips you if you are an
alcoholic.''
While there may be unanimity on the first 164 pages, there is
none about
the stories. ''When I first got it,'' says Dave, 26, of
Somerville, ''I read
the stories. Now I don't look at the stories. When I'm in a bad
space, I
have a harder time relating to them.''
> But others have a deep commitment to certain ones. Michael,
of Brookline,
was crestfallen when it appeared that a classic story, ''Doctor,
Alcoholic,
Addict,'' had been excluded from the new edition. ''There are two
paragraphs
> about acceptance, on Page 449,'' he said sadly, ''that I read
every
morning.'' He was relieved to discover that it was only renamed,
''Acceptance Was the Answer,'' and moved (449 is now 417). His
bond with
that one page is not uncommon. AA members tend to know what is
meant by a reference to ''Page 449'' or ''Page 83.'' Revising the Big Book was therefore a dicey affair, though
Richard says it
helped that the first 164 pages were strictly off limits, however
dated
their tone, slang, and social assumptions. ''AA is of necessity
historic,''
he says. ''Without that, there is a risk of amnesia about what
went on
before, of devaluing this sense of experience.''
Leaving the first
part untouched means that every new member in a sense meets Bill
W. and Dr. Bob
personally. But in the committee, there was no consensus on the stories,
which
constitute 80 percent of the book. So the committee decided to
research
Wilson's writings to find out his attitude toward the book - much
as
constitutional scholars dig into what James Madison or John Adams
meant by ''high crimes and misdemeanors.''
They found, says Richard, that ''Bill always saw the book as
organic and
dynamic, never locked in. The book was not for those of us who
were already
here. That was cold water for many. People who had been in AA for
30 years
said, `But you can't take out that story - it's my favorite.' But
we had to
say, `We don't care. You're sober now. We need to change it for
the new
people.''' Even so, most of the oldest stories in Part One,
''Pioneers of
AA,'' were kept, including ''Dr. Bob's Nightmare'' and ''The Keys
to the
Kingdom,'' by a former flapper of the Roaring Twenties.
The new revisers decided to invite the fellowship (1.4
million members in
the United States and Canada) to submit stories. More than 1,200
stories
came in, and over a year's time they were winnowed to 24. One criterion for the new selections was greater diversity,
although
Richard said the AA way of saying that was ''a broad cross-section
of
sharing.'' He says, ''AA today is younger, more female, more brown
and
black, more gay.'' The new storytellers include several American Indians
(although an older
Indian story, ''Join the Tribe!,'' written in painfully
stereotypical
dialect, was dropped), Jews, African-Americans (including a
pioneer), a gay
man and a lesbian, and several young people.
Some AA members have an exaggerated reverence for the book,
including
those known as ''Big Book Thumpers,'' who believe that in it are
the
solutions to all life's problems. Some call it AA's Bible, which
Richard,
speaking only for himself, resists. ''Some members see it as divinely inspired,'' he says. ''They
believe that
Bill was given this book not through his intellectual discovery,
but as a
delivered text. Some have come close to putting Bill and Dr. Bob
on a
pedestal: Whatever they said is the literal truth.
The book is an
esthetic and a guide. Those who want to turn it into a literal manual
of life move
it in a direction distant from life.'' About a million copies of the Big Book are distributed each
year in
English alone, and the growth of Alcoholics Anonymous is
accelerating
worldwide. ''AA is meant to be for humankind, not bounded by people in
New York or
Akron,'' Richard says. ''In the last 20 years it has spread
quickly in
cultures very different from our own.
In India, AA is poised to
become a
huge phenomenon. In the next few years, the majority of AAs may be
Asian.'' In that event, the fourth edition of the Big Book may have a
much shorter
life than its predecessors. The Big Book and other AA publications can be ordered from AA
World
Services Inc., PO Box 569, Grand Central Station, New York NY
10163, or from
www.aa.org
David Mehegan can be reached by e-mail at mehegan@globe.com.
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