Writing the Big Book - by William H Schaberg

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Review Quotes

"Rare books dealer Schaberg (The Nietzsche Canon) provides an admirably exhaustive, albeit intimidatingly lengthy, look at the writing of Alcoholic Anonymous's foundational 1939 text-known colloquially as The Big Book, and in full as Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. Through years of archival research, Schaberg uncovered a tremendous amount of first-hand documentation related to the book's composition. He demonstrates a detective's skill in using this evidence to examine accounts by major A.A. figures and identify contradictions, often traceable to what he calls the mythmaking tendencies of A.A.'s charismatic and garrulous founder Bill Wilson, the Big Book's primary author. Among other things, Schaberg shows that the creation of A.A.'s most famous tenet, the 12 Steps, was likely not the sudden, inspired event [Wilson] so frequently reported, but a much more... deliberate affair. Elsewhere, Schaberg demonstrates equal skill as a literary archeologist in excavating past drafts of the book, finding traces of a planned but unwritten chapter about the potential alcoholic still evident in the finished text, and showing how a much-debated internal A.A. decision--to use the word 'god, ' but not more creed-specific language--shaped the Steps. The main caveat for general readers will be this book's monumental scale; nonetheless, Schaberg's work is a landmark study."--Publishers Weekly

"Writing the Big Book is the most important work on the history of A.A. since Ernie Kurtz's Not-God. Finally, we have a resource that draws upon decades of recent research to separate fact from myth regarding the origin of Alcoholics Anonymous."--William L. White, author of Slaying the Dragon

"This is a book that A.A. historians will want to read and reference from now on . . . the product of incredibly detailed research in the archives at the central A.A. office in New York City and at Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills, New York, along with Lois Wilson's diary, and a host of other primary sources."--Glenn F. Chesnut, Emeritus Professor of History, Indiana University South Bend

"Writing the Big Book details the chapter-by-chapter authoring of Alcoholics Anonymous and provides a revealing anthology of its primary contributors . . . .The revelations about Hank Parkhurst's role in particular cast a welcome and inclusive light on his critical importance, as he is shown to be a true unsung hero."--Arthur S., A.A. historian from of Arlington, TX

"Schaberg's in-depth research and masterful presentation of previously unpublished facts about A.A.'s early history makes for an explosive package . . . Far from presenting a dry historical record, Writing the Big Book is lively, fascinating, compelling, and insightful--more like a thriller than a documentary."--Jay Stinnett, A.A. historian

"Writing the Big Book is an invaluable contribution to Alcoholics Anonymous and its membership. Relying on outstanding research and thoroughness, Schaberg shapes a coherent story out of a vast trove of archival material--and reveals that the Big Book, far from being simply, divinely inspired, was the work of perfectly flawed human beings, living and striving under great stress and difficulty."--Kevin Hanlon, co-creator of the documentary Bill W.

"Writing the Big Book surprises in how well it defines and demonstrates the condition of alcoholism, while so clearly rendering portraits of its interesting cast of characters. I came away with a much be

About the Author

William H. Schaberg is a scholar and rare book dealer based in Fairfield, Connecticut. His interest in the history of ideas led him to amass a large collection of first edition philosophy texts and inspired his first scholarly work, The Nietzsche Canon: A Publication History and Bibliography (University of Chicago Press, 1995). Schaberg has delivered lectures on Nietzsche, William James, and other philosophers with his mentor King Dykeman at his alma mater, Fairfield University. He has served in the United States Air Force and ran a family printing business for over thirty years before retiring to commit more energy to his bookselling business, Athena Rare Books. Schaberg's scholarly investigation into the authorship of Alcoholics Anonymous was an eleven-year project that, like his Nietzsche book, began with bibliographical confusion over the text's prepublication history and culminated in an unprecedented chronology of the "Big Book" origins.