Real Twelve Step Fellowship History: The Old School A.A. You May Not Know: Training the Trainers

by Dick B.

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Author: Dick B.

Publisher: Good Book Publishing Company

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1885803877
ISBN 13: 978-1885803870

The substantial work contains a much-needed and detailed history guide published in order to to train trainers in the full and concise presentation of an early A.A. history segment as a part of any recovery program. This book details all aspects of the original Akron Christian Fellowship Program as reported by Frank Amos to AAs and to Rockefeller. It highlights and illustrates the distinct difference between that original Akron spiritual program of recovery and the later program fashioned by Bill Wilson from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker and for A.A. s basic text (the Big Book). In its carefully documented pages, you will readily see and learn how much the A.A. program changed during the 1940 s in the period of Bill Wilson's deep depression when others stepped up to the plate with their own versions of how to work the recovery program Bill had fashioned in his 1939 basic text. These new entrants included Clarence Snyder, Sister Ignatia, Father Ed Dowling, Richmond Walker, Ed Webster, Father Ralph Pfau, and Father John C. Ford. With the death of Dr. Bob and his wife Anne by 1950, the A.A. fellowship had taken on a totally different hue. And the new approach was codified in Bill Wilson's two books--Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. Each of the two was thoroughly edited for Bill by the two Jesuit priests, John C. Ford and Ed Dowling. With the new hue came the new structure with conferences, boards, traditions, concepts, warranties, and manuals. And through it all, the viewer can still find in this new Dick B. volume what the original program looked like, where it came from, the revised program of 1939, and the streams of new approaches that came onto the scene thereafter--within the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. This comprehensive historical biography is truly the product of the author's 18 years of researching the A.A. picture.

About the Author

Dick B. is a writer, historian, retired attorney, Bible student, and active recovered member of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. He holds Doctor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Stanford University and an A.A. degree from the University of California (Berkeley) with Honorable Mention. He was both Case and Legislation Editor of the Stanford Law Review and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior Year at the University of California. He practiced law in San Francisco and in Marin County, California for thirty-six years before he was felled by alcoholism and entered the A.A. fellowship in April of 1986. He has been continuously free from drink and pill addiction since that time and has sponsored over 100 men in their recovery. He has published thirty-two titles on the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, particularly the sources, roots, principles, practices, and successes of the early A.A. Christian Fellowship in Akron. He has also published over 180 articles on the subject and is a widely-sought speaker at A.A. history conferences, A.A. meetings international conferences of related fellowships, professional groups, and organizations dealing with substance abuse and addiction solutions. The author uses the pen name Dick B. to conform to A.A. traditions of anonymity and, in that capacity, speaks on radio, podcasts, blogs, forums, and TV programs. His materials also appear on four websites he maintains. His writing, and speaking cover all of A.A. s varied and diverse well-springs. These include the Bible, Quiet Time, Christian Endeavor, the YMCA, the Salvation Army, Gospel rescue missions, conversion, the Oxford Group, the teachings of Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., and the works of Professor William James, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, Dr. William D. Silkworth, Emmet Fox (and other New Thought movement leaders), lay therapist Richard Peabody, the journal of Anne Ripley Smith (wife of A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob Smith), and literature read and recommended by Dr. Bob and other A.A. pioneers. He has a number of works in progress and is available for speaking at forums, panels, seminars, and media presentations. He was born in Stockton, California, in 1925.