Last updated:
 May 29, 2009

Alcoholics Anonymous History
Making Known the Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous 
An Eleven-Year Research, Writing, Publishing,
and Fact Dissemination Project

By Dick B.

In the period from 1990 to date, author Dick B. has been assembling historical materials that piece together and document the virtually unknown elements of the early A.A. spiritual program of recovery. When he came on board as a very sick alcoholic, he was bewildered and encountered bewilderment over the intrusion into A.A. of "higher powers," "any gods," "not-godness," "fourth dimension," "Creative Intelligence," and dozens of other strange ideas foreign to his education and beliefs. Concepts that, for the most part, were left undefined by the latter-day members of A.A.

The author began with interviews and carefully catalogued and retained the results. Then there were trips to archives, libraries, collections, and private memoranda locations. These too were collected and analyzed. There were tapes to be heard, videos to be seen, pictures to be viewed. There were booklets, pamphlets, news articles, pieces of correspondence, memoranda, notes, and oral histories all to be fitted into place. And then there were books-–over 4,000 of them. Each had a place and a role to play.

How is this title-–which describes the materials Dick B. gathered during his eleven years of research into the biblical roots of Alcoholics Anonymous-–different than other publications to date? There has been no other attempt to revive, describe, and document the nature and content of early A.A.’s distinct spiritual roots. There have been partial histories, extensive book collections (left unexplained as to content), wool-gathering efforts, and opinions by the hundreds. Scholar after scholar has stuck to a party line that is focused on Bill Wilson, Carl Jung, William James, and Dr. William Silkworth-–with grudging nods to the Oxford Group and Sam Shoemaker. There has been a dearth of attention to the Bible, to Quiet Time, to Dr. Bob’s wife Anne Smith, to the Seiberlings, to T. Henry Williams, and to the devotionals and books early AAs read.

Dick has incorporated much of what he has learned into his various titles, articles, talks, panel discussions, correspondence, and email. But the 23,900 items comprising his research collection were and still are, for the most part, locked away in the State of Hawaii. Dick was determined to make the information available, in his books, on the internet, on radio, on television, in articles, in newspapers, and in talks. Yet the resources of one recovered alcoholic are dim when compared to the 18 million alcoholics and 2 million A.A. members who might want to hear the facts.

Acquisitions piled up. Oxford Group leaders, Shoemaker family members, archivists, scholars, historians, librarians, A.A. old-timers, and countless others made books and materials available to Dick. Some were purchased. Many were purchased for the author and presented to him. Many were donated. Many were simply collected bit by bit by hundreds who were willing to part with their shares of history. All to the end that other suffering alcoholics could be blessed.

Making Known the Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous details all the items, names their donors where appropriate, states the dissemination mission, and provides the largest extant annotated bibliography of materials related to the spiritual roots of Alcoholics Anonymous available.

Paradise Research Publications, Inc.; 229 pp.; 6 x 9; perfect bound; 2006; $24.95; ISBN: 1-885803-97-4

Contact:
Dick B.
P.O. Box 837
Kihei, Hawaii
96753-0837
Ph/fax: (808)874-4876
dickb@dickb.com

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