Getting Started (Continued)
C: Now the Big Book has undergone three editions. The
first in 1939, the second in 1955, and the third in 1976. The only reason
for the last two editions, the second and the third, was because the
stories in the back of the book, which were put in with the first edition,
were basically all of men, most of them fairly old, and most of them real
low bottom drunks. By 1955 that picture had begun to change.
More and more women were coming into A. A. The
average age was becoming lower and lower, and bottoms were becoming also
higher and higher at the same time. The stories in the back of the first
edition no longer accurately reflected the membership of A. A. in 1955,
and they are there for the reader to identify with.
So they decided they needed to change some of those stories. They took
some out, and added some more in, and moved a few around, and came out
with the second edition. But the first 164 pages, the basic recovery
program, was left largely untouched. The same thing happened in 1976 with
the third edition. But the actual recovery program was left untouched.
It has worked so well for so many people over this
period of years that even we, grandiose controversial alcoholics have
never yet found a reason to change the recovery program, the written word
in the Big Book, "Alcoholics Anonymous."
Now, I think it's very important for me to understand
that. To know that the book I'm using today--whether it's the first
edition, second edition, or third edition--I'm using the same basic
recovery program that was used in 1935, 1937 and through 1939. It worked
for them, and it'll also work for me today.
