The Book That Started It All by Anonymous

Author:Anonymous
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781616495220
Publisher: Hazelden Publishing

The Publication of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Short History

According to ‘Pass It On’: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World, “Bill always said that more than 100 titles were considered for the book.” Among those considered were “One Hundred Men,” “The Empty Glass,” “The Dry Way,” “The Dry Life,” “Dry Frontiers,” “The Way Out,” and “The Bill W. Movement.”1

In her memoir Lois Remembers, Lois Wilson tells us that, since “100 or so members had been sober for two or three years . . . the name ‘100 Men’ seemed appropriate until one woman, Florence, joined the group and objected.” She adds that “‘The Way Out’ was popular for a while, but Bill thought it trite,” and that Bill once wanted to call the book “The Wilson Movement” and to sign it as author.2

Bill Wilson believed that Joe W., a New Yorker writer, was the one who conceived the title Alcoholics Anonymous in October 1938. There is, however, a July 18, 1938, letter from Dr. Richards of Johns Hopkins showing that Bill was, at that time, already using this as the working title of the book and, perhaps, also as the name of the Fellowship. Though “thinking up titles for the book was a great game,” according to Lois Wilson, “the New York group had [already] labeled itself a nameless bunch of drunks,” so “Alcoholics Anonymous” was quite fitting.3

According to biographer Susan Cheever, the top choices were “The Way Out” and “Alcoholics Anonymous.” Cheever confirms Lois’s belief that Bill “was overwhelmingly in favor of the latter, but he knew his enthusiastic endorsement sometimes backfired among his members.”4

According to ‘Pass It On,’

The choices quickly boiled down to “The Way Out,” favored by a majority in Akron, and “Alcoholics Anonymous,” preferred by most in New York. When a vote was taken in the two groups, “The Way Out” prevailed by a bare majority. . . . [Bill Wilson] asked Fitz, who lived near Washington, D.C., to check titles in the Library of Congress. . . . Fitz is supposed to have replied by telegram to the effect that the Library of Congress had 25 books entitled “The Way Out,” 12 entitled “The Way,” and none called “Alcoholics Anonymous.” That settled the matter; nobody wanted to struggle with the burden of being simply another “way out.”5

Niles Peebles, author of Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers,6 quotes Bill Wilson saying that the biblical Book of James was read each morning by Dr. Bob’s wife, Anne, and notes that “the Book of James was a favorite with early A.A.’s—so much so that ‘The James Club’ was favored by some as a name for the Fellowship.”7

Bill Wilson came to think of the battle over the title as “a big brouhaha” that was taking up too much of his time, so he quietly kept to the title Alcoholics Anonymous. Dr. Bob seems to have agreed with Bill, according to a member named John, who observes that another member named Wally grew “sore” when learning that Bill and Dr.

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