The Clergy – by Bill W.
Every river has a wellspring at its source. AA is like that, too. In the beginning, there was a spring which poured out of a clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. ‘Way back in 1934 he...
Tagged: AA Grapevine
The Legacy of Recovery
Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully...
The Dilemma of No Faith – By Bill W.
The phrase “God As We Understand Him” is perhaps the most important expression to be found in our whole AA vocabulary. Within the compass of these five significant words there can be included every...
Dr. Bob: A Tribute
Serenely remarking to his attendant, “I think this is it,” Dr. Bob passed out of our sight and hearing November 16, 1950 at noonday. So ended the consuming malady wherein he had so well...
Dr. Bob’s Last Major Talk
Although a good many of you have heard or have read about the inception of A.A., probably there are some who haven’t. From that brief story, there are things to be learned. So, even...
Slips – by the late William D. Silkworth, M.D.
Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., January 1947 Do alcoholics suffer from “Alcoholic Behavior” or are they simply victims of human nature? The mystery of slips is not as deep as it may...
On Cultivating Tolerance – by Dr. Bob S.
Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc July 1944 During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but...
Adequate Hospitalization: One Great Need – by Bill W.
Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., May 1947 Many sanitariums and private hospitals are necessarily too high priced for the average alcoholic, Public hospitals being too few, asylums and religious institutions too seldom available,...
A Fragment of History – By Bill W.
Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc, July 1953 AA’s are always asking: “Where did the Twelve Steps come from?” In the last analysis, perhaps nobody knows. Yet some of the events which led to their...
The Fundamentals – In Retrospect – By Dr. Bob S.
It is gratifying to feel that one belongs to and has a definite personal part in the work of a growing and spiritually prospering organization for the release of the alcoholics of mankind from...
Why Alcoholics Anonymous is Anonymous – by Bill W.
As never before the struggle for power, importance, and wealth is tearing civilization apart. Man against man, family against family, group against group, nation against nation. Nearly all those engaged in this fierce competition...
Dr. Silkworth’s Rx for Sobriety
Anyone who tried to impress a drinking alcoholic with the approach, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” would probably draw a scornful, “So what! Who wants any cake? Tony, make it...
