Alcoholics Anonymous was born over fifty years ago when Bill Wilson, sober just a short time, met Dr. Bob Smith and helped him to sobriety. Today A. A. is the largest and most effective means available to alcoholics for recovery. A. A.: The Story is an engrossing account of A. A.'s astonishing development and success and a fascinating record of the program that has been the model for hundreds of Twelve Step groups throughout the country.

An updated and revised edition of Not­God, A. A.: The Story includes a new chapter that continues A. A.'s history beyond the death of Bill Wilson in 1971 and carries it forward to 1987. Through his unhindered research in the A. A. archives, author Ernest Kurtz has made this the most complete, authoritative account available.

Kurtz traces the roots of the A. A. philosophy to such a seemingly diverse group as Carl Jung, William James, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Akron socialite Henrietta Seiberling, as well as the Oxford Group of Frank Buchman, a number of Irish-American Catholic priests, and fundamentalist religion.

The story relates the painful writing o f A.A's "Big Book,"Alcoholics Anonymous, the problems caused over the years by Wilson's unofficial status as "head" of A. A., and the fight involving the A. A. board of trustees. All is told in the context of two important points: first, that Wilson and his contemporaries were keenly aware of their own limitations as recovering alcoholics; second, and more important, that they discovered a health and a wholeness, a maturity, as sober individuals within the fellowship o f A. A.

The author recounts this history around the term not-God, an expression that lies at the heart of the A. A. fellowship and program. "The fundamental and first message of Alcoholics Anonymous to its members, "Kurtz writes, "is that they are not infinite, not absolute, not God. Every alcoholic's problem had first been, according to this insight, claiming God-like powers, especially that of control... The fulfilling of the implications of being not-God, the living out of the connectedness with others that comes about from the alcoholic's very limitation, is the story of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is this story, this history, that th is book narrates' Ernest Kurtz received his Ph. D. in the history of American civilization from Harvard University. He has lectured at the Rutgers University Summer School of Alcohol Studies, has been a consultant lecturer with the continuing education department of the Hazelden Foundation, and is currently director of research and education at Guest House in Lake Orion, Michigan. He is also the author of Shame and Guilt: Characteristics of the Dependency Cycle.

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