Dick B.'s A.A. History Books Tops in List of Current Writings

Dick B.’s A.A. History Books Tops in Number on the List Prepared by Buddy T. of About.com

 

By Dick B.

 

Buddy T. and his About.com website keep a regular chronicle of subjects about Alcoholics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous History. His list reviews nine of the principal books about Alcoholics Anonymous History. And, of these nine, the following Dick B. A. A. history books constitute four of the nine—a unique and important tribute to Dick’s scholarly work.

 

 

The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, by Dick B.  www.dickb.com/Akron.shtml

 

My book reporting and documenting the story of A.A’s beginnings in Akron, emerging in 1931. Recounting what early AAs did in their meetings, homes, and hospital visits; what they read; and how their ideas developed from the Bible, the Oxford Group, and Christian literature.

 

The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous, by Dick B.  www.dickb.com/Oxford.shtml

 

The unique authoritative and complete study of the Oxford Group (also known later as Moral Re-Armament) and the remarkable parallels of the Oxford Group principles, practices, and contributions with Bill Wilson’s 1939 “new version” of the A.A. program as drawn largely from "A First Century Christian Fellowship" (also known as The Oxford Group) with which A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob were associated between 1931 and 1939.

 

Anne Smith's Journal, 1933-1939, by Dick B.  www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml

 

Dr. Bob's wife, Anne Ripley Smith, kept a journal in the 1930's from which she shared with early AAs and their families ideas from the Bible and the Oxford Group. This sharing was done every morning in a Quiet Time that was held at the Smith home in Akron. Anne was known as the “Mother of A.A.”  Her ideas substantially influenced A.A.'s program.

 

That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence & Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous, by Dick B.

www.dickb.com/AmazGrac.shtml

 

Grace, the wife of A.A. Old-timer and founder of the first Cleveland, Ohio A.A. group, tells in her own words how her husband Clarence became a sponsee of A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob, spun off Akron A.A. into the Cleveland Group—which became the fastest growing early A.A. area, with groups increasing from one to thirty in a year, and with a documented 93% success rate.

Grace also tells how she and Clarence conducted retreats for AAs and their families for years.