Big Book Podcast

The first of 12 stories in Part 2 of the Big Book presents a compelling case to stop drinking sooner than later and save years of infinite suffering. It was written by Pete W., who got sober in 1945. It was published only in the Second and Third Editions, so it’s likely those who’ve been raised by the Fourth Edition will find it to be a fascinating "new" story. Historically, not much is known abou...

Most readers of the Big Book will recognize “The Keys of the Kingdom”, as it was published in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions. Its author, Sylvia K, traveled from Chicago to Akron and Cleveland, Ohio in early 1939, around the time that the Big Book was first published, but not yet widely available. After reading the book and meeting with recovering alcoholics, she was encouraged to return t...

This was one of only five of the original 29 stories in the First Edition to make it into the Second Edition. Its author, Clarence S., got sober in early 1938. Along with a dozen other sober alcoholics from Cleveland, he would make the 40 mile drive to Akron each week to attend the Oxford Group with Dr. Bob and other original members of the Akron group. At the time, a majority of the Cleveland con...

Earl T., got sober in 1938 with the help of Dr. Bob and a number of original members of the fledgling Akron group. He then took his newfound sobriety and program knowledge back to his hometown, Chicago. For more than a year, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to put together an AA group. Finally, he was able to attract a few members, but not before he had sent them to Akron to be indoctrinated into the...

“The Man Who Mastered Fear” was printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions. It’s actually is an expanded version of a story printed in the First Edition of the Big Book titled “The Fearful One” by Archie T. from Detroit which was less than four pages long. “The Man Who Mastered Fear” was nearly twelve pages in length and written shortly before the publication of the Second Edition when Arch...

This story was written by Ethel M., one of the first female members of Akron Group 1 that met on Wednesday evenings at King’s School in Akron, Ohio. Though she didn’t get sober until May 1941, along with her husband Russ, by the time the Second Edition was published in 1955, Ethel was widely known as the "longest-sober lady" in the Akron/Cleveland region. Around the time that Ethel got sober, with...

This story is actually the edited and re-titled version of the story “Traveler, Editor, Scholar” which was originally published in the First Edition.  A sizable portion of the beginning of that story was omitted from the second edition and there were also minor word changes throughout. If you listen to the earlier two-story episode that begins with the story “A Different Slant”, you will hear what...

This story was penned by Jim B. who got sober in 1938, and was an member of Bill W’s original New York Group that met on Tuesday nights in Brooklyn. It was published in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions of the Big Book, but not in the First Edition. However, Jim’s involvement in the program during the writing of Alcoholics Anonymous, is sometimes credited with having influenced Bill W’s refer...

This story is one of only a handful of stories from the First Edition of the Big Book that was retained for the Second Edition. It's about Joe D., an original member of the Akron Group, sometimes  referred to  AA number 5. As was the case with a number of stories in the First Edition of the Big Book, Bill W. found it surprisingly difficult to obtain written stories from among the earliest members...

Women Suffer Too was written by Marty M., a founding female member of Alcoholics Anonymous and close friend of Bill W. Marty’s involvement in AA influenced her life of service in which she traveled around the country advocating the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism. In countless speeches, conferences, and interviews from coast-to-coast, Marty’s tireless effor...

One of the more colorful stories from the very earliest days of AA, this story was published in the 2nd and 3rd Editions but omitted from the 4th edition for reasons unknown. If you’ve only read stories in the 4th Edition, you’ll enjoy this “new” story published in 1955. It features many of the original AA members in Akron and northeast Ohio. In fact, the first AA group established in Cleveland me...

This is the 50th episode of the Big Book Podcast, and I'd like to thank the thousands of people around the world who have listened to this audio version of the 1st and 2nd editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. We’ve many more episodes to come. I hope you have found listening to the Big Book both enjoyable and meaningful. These free podcasts are done in loving service to the AA program and for all of u...

“Alcoholics Anonymous Number 3” describes the meeting of Dr. Bob and Bill W. with Bill D., an alcoholic patient Akron City Hospital in late June 1935. With their help, Bill D. got sober and was a pioneer member of Akron Group 1, the first AA group in the world. His story chronicles the very earliest days of the AA movement, only weeks after Bill W. met Dr. Bob and AA’s birth on June 10, 1935. Whil...

This 48th episode marks the beginning of the Personal Stories section in the 2nd Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. While the 11 chapters in the first 164 pages of the Big Book preserved AA’s message as it was originally published in the 1st Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939, the personal stories section in the 2nd Edition was subject to major revisions. Of the 29 stories pub...

Bill Wilson wrote the 11th chapter in the fall of 1938, while still wrestling with other chapters of the book. Years later, in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age”, Bill admitted to having been secretly worried during that time about getting the book finished. “I was exhausted,” he said. “On many a day I felt like throwing the book out the window.” Of course, he persevered, and A Vision fo...

Unlike previous chapters, Chapter 10 was not written entirely by Bill Wilson. In fact, it was penned by Hank Parkhurst, a friend and business associate of Bill’s who got sober in 1935. In the annals of AA history, Hank played an integral role in the early days of the movement, and managed many of the business matters related to AA’s early growth, as well as the financing, publication, and promotio...

With few edits , Chapter 9 was republished in the Second Edition in 1955 as as a powerful and practical guide for families of alcoholics. Originally written by Bill W in the fall of 1938, Chapter 9 describes the dire impact that alcoholism has on family relationships and how those dynamics are affected by the head of the family getting sober. Though quite hopeful in tone and context, Chapter 9 is...

Chapter 8's actual authorship has been widely speculated upon since it was first written in 1938. Many believe that Bill W.’s wife, Lois Wilson, may have written or contributed to the writing of this seminal chapter. Indeed, it might have made sense for her to do so. As she related in her memoirs “Lois Remembers”, published in 1979, during the initial four years of Bill’s sobriety, they “had begun...

Chapter 7, entitled Working With Others, from the 2nd edition of Alcoholics Anonymous was originally published in 1955. Again, few changes were made to this chapter between the first and second editions, but its powerful message of “You can’t keep it if don’t give it away” resounds in the practical instructions presented in this chapter for helping others achieve sobriety. Indeed to this day, soli...

With few changes from the First Edition, Chapter 6 remains a powerful guide for working the 5th through 11th steps of the AA Program. Interestingly, the 6th and 7th step were treated to only two paragraphs in the Big Book on page 76. Given the number of pages or chapters that other steps were allotted in the Big Book, the reasons for the relative brevity of steps 6 and 7 has been a been a popular...

Chapter 5 is so important to Alcoholics Anonymous, that the first three pages of "How It Works" are commonly read at the beginning of many AA meetings. The chapter clearly lays out the 12 steps in the suggested program of recovery upon which AA is based. A major change from the First Edition was one word in the first part of the 12th step. Originally it began, “Having had a spiritual experience as...

With few changes from the First Edition, Chapter 4's main objective is to enable readers to find a Power greater than themselves that would solve their problem. Though Chapter 4 was originally written to describe that Power in spiritual and moral terms, without hesitancy to talk about God, it also steered AA's discussion of spirituality away from specific religious or theological doctrines. Agnost...

Though few changes were made to Chapter 3 in the Second Edition published in 1955, there’s an interesting and notable asterisk at the end of a few sentences on the top of page 34 in the print version. Those two sentences, which remained unchanged from the First Edition, read, “We, who are familiar with the symptoms see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try an...

A significant change was made to Chapter 2 when the Second Edition was printed in 1955. The First Edition referred to a “celebrated physician” who treated the American businessman, (later known as Rowland H). The Second Edition named that doctor as the world-famous psychoanalyst Dr. Carl Jung, who prescribed for Rowland in Zurich in the early 1930’s. As recounted on page 26, Dr. Jung told Rowland...

The amazing story of AA's co-founder, Bill W., continues to inspire and guide Alcoholics Anonymous more than 85 years after its founding and 49 years after Bill's death in 1971. Bill’s Story, Chapter 1 in the 2nd Edition of the Big Book published in 1955, was left largely intact from the 1st Edition in 1939. The story itself had relatively few changes, a word here, a sentence there. But by the tim...