Editing Alcoholics Anonymous (section)

==AA literature {{anchor|AA Grapevine}}==
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Alcoholics Anonymous publishes several books, reports, pamphlets, and other media, including a periodical known as the ''AA Grapevine''.<ref name="AASEARCHRESULTS">A [[WorldCat]] search for materials authored by [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAlcoholics+Anonymous.&qt=hot_author Alcoholics Anonymous] and more specific divisions of the organization ([http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAlcoholics+Anonymous.&qt=hot_author AA Grapevine], [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAlcoholics+Anonymous+World+Services%2C+inc.&qt=hot_author World Services], [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAlcoholics+Anonymous.+General+Service+Conference.&qt=hot_author General Service Conference], [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AAlcoholics+Anonymous.+World+Service+Meeting&qt=hot_author World Service Meeting]) yields well over 500 results.</ref> Two books are used primarily: [[The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)|''Alcoholics Anonymous'']] (the "Big Book") and, expounding on the big book in regard to its subject, ''[[Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions]].'' As with all AA literature, the texts are freely available on AA.org.

=== The Big Book ===
[[File:CalumetBldg.AA.plaque.Newark.jpg|thumb|250x250px|Plaque at site of Calumet Building in Newark where much of the text for the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous was written]]
In 1939, Bill W. and other members wrote the book initially titled ''Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Copyright of AA Book |url=http://gsowatch.aamo.info/1939/uslaw.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224152408/http://gsowatch.aamo.info/1939/uslaw.htm |archive-date=24 February 2021 |access-date=26 June 2010 |website=gsowatch.aamo.info}}</ref> from which AA drew its name, informally known as the "Big Book". The second edition of the Big Book was released in 1955, the third in 1976, and the fourth in 2001. The first part of the book, which details the program, has remained largely intact since the 1939 edition, with minor statistical updates and edits. The second part contains personal stories that are updated with every edition to reflect current AA membership, resulting in earlier stories being removed—these were published separately in 2003 in the book ''Experience, Strength, and Hope''.<ref name="ISP">''Experience, Strength and Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous'', New York: Alcoholics Anonymous, 2003,  {{ISBN|978-1893007307}}.</ref>

The Big Book suggests a twelve-step program in which members admit that they are powerless over alcohol and need help from a "higher power". It offers guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God or a higher power of their own understanding; take a moral inventory with care to include resentments; list and become ready to remove character defects; list and make amends to those harmed; continue to take a moral inventory, pray, meditate, and try to help other alcoholics recover. The second half of the book, "Personal Stories" (subject to additions, removal, and retitling in subsequent editions), is made of AA members' redemptive autobiographical sketches.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anonymous |first1=Alcoholics |title=AA Big Book, preface |url=http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/en_bigbook_preface.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/en_bigbook_preface.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=25 December 2016 |website=Alcoholics Anonymous |publisher=Anonymous Press}}</ref>

==== Illness and allergy terminology ====
AA's Big Book calls alcoholism "an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer". Ernest Kurtz says this is "The closest the book Alcoholics Anonymous comes to a definition of alcoholism".<ref name="bhrm.org">{{cite journal |last=Kurtz |first=Ernest |year=2002 |title=Alcoholics Anonymous and the disease concept of alcoholism |url=http://www.bhrm.org/media/pdf/pub/AAandDiseaseConcept.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly |volume=20 |issue=3–4 |pages=5–39 |doi=10.1300/j020v20n03_02 |s2cid=144972034 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bhrm.org/media/pdf/pub/AAandDiseaseConcept.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=13 May 2017}}</ref> Somewhat divergently in his introduction to The Big Book, non-member and early benefactor [[William Duncan Silkworth|William Silkworth]] said those unable to moderate their drinking suffer from an [[allergy]]. In presenting the doctor's postulate, AA said "The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as ex-problem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account".<ref name="Alcoholics Anonymous page xxvi">''Alcoholics Anonymous'' page xxx</ref> AA later acknowledged that "alcoholism is not a true allergy, the experts now inform us".<ref>{{cite book |title=Living Sober |year=1975 |page=68}}</ref>

=== ''Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions'' ===
The "[[Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions]]" is a book published in 1953 that serves as a key text for AA. Written by AA co-founder Bill W., it provides detailed explanations of the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions. The book is commonly used in AA meetings and individual study, offering a framework for understanding the organization's approach to recovery and community. The story of [[Eddie Rickenbacker]] "and his courageous company" appears in the book. It pertains to when his plane crashed in the Pacific and is used in the closing remarks of Tradition One: "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity".<ref>Alcoholics Anonymous (2002-02-10). ''Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions''. Hazelden. {{ISBN|0-916856-01-1}}. {{OCLC|13572433}}.</ref>

=== ''Grapevine'' ===
''The Grapevine'', established in June 1944 by six AA members in New York, became AA's national journal by 1945 and later its international journal.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=History of the AA Grapevine {{!}} AA Grapevine |url=https://www.aagrapevine.org/history-aa-grapevine |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=www.aagrapevine.org |language=en}}</ref> Supported by Bill W., the magazine featured first-person stories, AA news, and discussions on key topics like women in AA and veterans returning from war.<ref name=":2" />

Initially intended as a resource for alcoholics worldwide, the Grapevine evolved into a unifying publication for the AA community, chronicling the Fellowship's growth, including the creation of the General Service Structure and publication of later editions of the Big Book. The Twelve Traditions were introduced to AA by Bill W. in April 1946 through an article titled "Twelve Suggested Points for AA Tradition". The AA Preamble, inspired by the foreword of the book ''Alcoholics Anonymous'', was written by one of the Grapevine's early editors Tom. Y. and first appeared in the June 1947 issue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A.A. Grapevine and La Viña {{!}} Alcoholics Anonymous |url=https://www.aa.org/aa-grapevine-la-vina |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=www.aa.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of the Grapevine Magazine |url=https://www.roadtorecoverygroup.org.uk/service-articles/a-history-of-the-grapevine-magazine/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Road To Recovery Group Plymouth |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1986, the Grapevine was reaffirmed as AA's international journal by the General Service Conference.<ref name=":2" />