Note:
LC: == Library of Congress Number
LCCN: == Library of Congress Card Catalog Number

The Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book":
For the standard A.A. party line about everything, see the "Big Book", as it is nick-named.

• Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976,     published as "anonymous", but really written by William G. Wilson, Henry Parkhurst, Joe Walsh, and 31 or more other people.
  Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 1976.
  ISBN: 0-916856-00-3
  Dewey: 362.29 A347 1976
  
• Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, 2001,     published as "anonymous", but really written by William G. Wilson, Henry Parkhurst, Joe Walsh, and many other people.
  Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 2001.
  ISBN: 1-893007-16-2
  Dewey: 362.29 A347 2001
  
• Note that the earlier editions of the A.A. book are available for free on the Internet. It seems that somebody was too 'sober' to remember to renew the copyright (if the original copyright was even ever valid, which is highly unlikely, because Bill Wilson stole the copyright for himself when the book was really written by more than 30 people).
  http://www.recovery.org/aa/download/BB-plus.html
  

  The Alcoholics Anonymous web site is: www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions     written by William G. Wilson and Tom Powers, and other unnamed co-authors, published as "anonymous".
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 1952, 1953, 1984.
ISBN: 0-916856-01-1 (larger older hard cover edition, 1984)
LCCN: 53-5454
also:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 2000.
ISBN: 0-916856-06-2 (smaller hard cover edition, 2000)
LCCN: 53-5454
Dewey: 362.2928 T969 1965
This is one of the most insane and vicious books around. It is right down there with Mein Kampf as far as its ratio of lies to truth, and hate content, is concerned. It is ostensibly Bill Wilson's explanation of his Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, but it is really something quite dark and evil, Bill Wilson's poisonous contempt for human nature masquerading as spirituality. It was written while Wilson was in the middle of his eleven-year-long bout of deep clinical depression, and it shows. It is really a brutal, hateful assault on the character of people who happen to have a drinking problem. Bill Wilson hated himself and his own character flaws, so he projected all of his own weaknesses and character flaws onto the alcoholics around him, and also onto a mythical stereotypical alcoholic, and then said, "Look at him. Look at how disgusting he is. We are all like that."
This whole book is non-stop guilt induction.
      By the way, Bill Wilson said in a letter to Father Edward Dowling, S.J., that he was getting "good help" in writing this book from the spirits "over there" in the spirit world whom he contacted during séances. Father Dowling answered that he feared that Bill might be messing with evil lying spirits from the dark side. Who knows, maybe Bill was...
Quotes: here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here.

Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age     published as "anonymous", but really written by William G. Wilson
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1957, 1986.
Harper, New York, 1957.
ISBN: 0-91-685602-X
LC: HV5278 .A78A4
Dewey: 178.1 A1c
This is Bill Wilson's version of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. It suspiciously differs from known history here and there.

'PASS IT ON': The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world     Authorship credited to 'anonymous'; actually written by A.A.W.S. staff
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1984.
ISBN: 0-916856-12-7
LC: HV5032 .W19P37x 1984
LCCN: 84-072766
Dewey: 362.29/286/O92
This is the official, council-approved version of the history of A.A.. Strangely enough, there is actually some very interesting stuff in here, including chapter 16, which describes Bill's spook sessions and séances, talking with the spirits of the dead, and communicating with spirits through spirit rapping and the Ouija board. See pages 275 to 285.

As Bill Sees It On; The A.A. Way of Life... selected writings of A.A.'s co-founder     'anonymous' (really, A.A.W.S. staff)
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1967.
ISBN: 0-916856-03-8
Dewey: 616.861 ASB
This is Bill Wilson's opinion on everything, writings selected by AAWS.

Bill W. My First 40 Years     'An Autobiography By The Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous'
(This is Bill Wilson's alleged 'autobiography', supposedly published anonymously.)
Hazelden, Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176, 2000.
ISBN: 1-56838-373-8
Dewey: B W11w 2000
This book was assembled by ghost writers at Hazelden from the same set of autobiographical tapes of Bill Wilson that Robert Thomsen used for his book.

The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J. and Bill Wilson in Letters     Robert Fitzgerald, S.J.
Hazelden Pittman Archives Press, Center City, MN, 1995.
ISBN: 1-56838-084-4
Dewey: 362.29286 FITZGERA 1995
This book includes Bill's letters to Father Dowling where he describes his psychic contact with spirits from the "other side", including "Boniface", who was supposedly an English medieval Benedictine missionary. Father Dowling answered that he felt that Bill was making contact with evil spirits who were deceiving him. See page 59. It also contains letters describing Bill's LSD usage -- that is the subject of all of chapter 13.

Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-Founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous     Lois Wilson
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 1991.
ISBN: 0-910034-23-0
Lois' book is pretty pathetic: it was probably ghost-written for her, somebody else putting words into her mouth, yet again, because it came out in 1979, long after Bill's death, when she was also very old and frail. The Lois Remembers book parrots much of the standard party line in the Big Book, including the ridiculous "jealous of God and A.A." story:

Slowly I recognized that because I had not been able to "cure" Bill of his alcoholism, I resented the fact that someone else had done so, and I was jealous of his newfound friends...
      God, through the Oxford Group, had accomplished in a twinkling what I had failed to do in seventeen years.
-- Lois Remembers, page 99.

Children Of The Healer: The Story of Dr. Bob's Kids     Bob Smith and Sue Smith Windows, As Told to Christine Brewer
First publication: Parkside Publishing Corp., Park Ridge, IL, 1992.
ISBN: 0-942421-48-5
2nd Printing, paperback: Hazelden Information Services, Center City, MN, 1994.
ISBN: 1-56838-3126
Applicable to both printings:
Dewey: 362.292 SM52C or 362.2923
LC: HV5132
LCCN: 92-64114
Two children of Doctor Bob describe an alcoholic father who created a dysfunctional family.
The autocratic Doctor Bob pressured his daughter Sue to spurn her high-school sweetheart Ray Windows. Dr. Bob got the idea of using "A.A. Number Four", Ernie Galbraith, to break them up. That resulted in the 32-year-old Ernie seducing 17-year-old Susan and taking her for himself. The marriage was a disaster, because Ernie Galbraith was a habitually unfaithful drunken philanderer (just like Bill Wilson). He relapsed often, almost constantly. He never overcame his alcohol addiction, in spite of the "help" of Alcoholics Anonymous. Ernie and Sue's daughter got pregnant at 16, and then killed herself and her own little daughter with Ernie's shotgun a few years later. Bill Wilson quietly removed Ernie's story, "The Seven Month Slip", from the Big Book in 1955 when the second edition was published. But Sue didn't get divorced from Ernie until 1965. Then she finally married Ray Windows, her old high-school sweetheart, after his first wife died. Alcoholics Anonymous was nothing but a personal disaster for Dr. Bob's daughter.
Quotes: Here.

Grateful To Have Been There     Nell Wing
Parkside Publishing Corporation, Park Ridge, Ill, 1992.
ISBN: 0-942421-44-2
Dewey: 362.2928 WING
This is an interesting book, even if it is a complete whitewash and gloss-over. Nell Wing was Bill Wilson's secretary for about 35 years, so it is understandable. And we can see the obvious fingerprints of the other true believers, helping Nell to tell the standard stories in exactly the same way as others have, like Bill's conversations with the ghosts of Nantucket. (Page 56.)
Quotes: here and here and here.

Language Of The Heart     William G. Wilson
A.A. Grapevine, New York, 1988.
ISBN: 0-933-68516-5
LC: HV5278 .W15 1988
LCCN: 88-71930
This is a collection of Bill's writings, speeches, and letters, assembled after his death.

The Language Of The Heart: Step 12     Hazelden
Hazelden Educational Materials, Center City, MN 55012-0176, 1983.
ISBN: 0-89486-167-0
Dewey: 362.2928 M135L
Don't confuse this pamphlet with the above book. This is just a short piece of 12-Step propaganda from Hazelden, 16 pages of advice on how to do Step Twelve.

Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.     Mel B.
Pittman Archives Press, Hazelden Information & Educational Services, Center City, MN, 1998.
ISBN: 1-56838-162-X
Dewey: B THACHER B 1998
A biography of Ebby Thacher. It says that Ebby's final days were spent in a residential alcoholism treatment facility.

Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers     Authorship credited to 'anonymous'; actually written by A.A.W.S. staff.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York, 1980.
ISBN: 0-916856-07-0
LCCN: 80-65962
LC: HV5278.D62 1980
Interesting, gives a lot of details of the early days in Akron. It is, of course, totally sanitized and every line has been checked to make sure that it conforms to the standard (false) party line.

Where Did Everybody Go?     Paul Molloy
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1981.
ISBN: 0-385-04997-8
LC: RC565.M58
Dewey: 616.86'1'00924 or B Molloy M
Another piece of propaganda that teaches us that Alcoholics Anonymous is right about everything. The author spent most of the book describing how miserable his drinking life was, and then he suddenly flipped out and became a raving true believer in A.A. who even repeated this:

"... I consider the AA people to be the most charming in the world.   ...
      They have found a power greater than themselves which they serve diligently. And that gives them a charm that never was elsewhere on land and sea. It makes you know that God Himself is really charming, because the AA people reflect His mercy and His forgiveness.
      ... when they have found their restoration, their sense of humor finds a blessed freedom, and they are able to reach a god-like state...
(pp. 187-189.)

"A god-like state"? Talk about delusions of grandeur.... Talk about flattering the cult members by telling them that they are really special....
See another quote here.

Bill W.     Robert Thomsen
Harper & Rowe, New York, 1975.
ISBN: 0-06-014267-7
Dewey: 362.29 W112t
This is a good biography of William G. Wilson, even if it is very positively slanted towards Mr. Wilson, because the author knew Mr. Wilson and worked beside him for the last 12 years of Mr. Wilson's life, and this book was prepared from the set of autobiographical tape recordings that Bill Wilson made before he died. So expect it to praise Mr. Wilson a lot. Still, this book will also tell you about some of Bill Wilson's warts, his fat ego, his publicity-hound behavior, and his years-long "dry drunks"...

Bill W. A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson     Francis Hartigan
Thomas Dunne Books, An imprint of St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, 2000.
ISBN: 0-312-20056-0
Dewey: B W11h 2000
Francis Hartigan was the secretary of and confidant to Bill Wilson's wife Lois. This book is pretty much a white-wash and tells the whole story from Bill's point of view. But it does contain a few surprises, like the chapter "The Other Woman" which details Bill's love affair with Helen Wynn, and hints at all of his other affairs where he cheated on Lois, both before and after sobriety, all of his married life.
      Note the interesting fact that Lois Wilson had her own private secretary. That doesn't quite jibe with the published image of Bill and Lois as a couple of desperately poor people who were always struggling just to survive. The A.A. propagandists fail to tell you that Bill Wilson managed to arrange A.A. finances so that he and Lois lived like royalty in their A.A.-supplied house, while driving an A.A.-supplied Cadillac car and being supported in comfort for the rest of their lives by the Alcoholics Anonymous organization, with private secretaries and mistresses even. So much for the much-ballyhooed "unselfish, constructive action" and "abandoning self-seeking" that Wilson always promoted (for others).

Bill W. and Mr. Wilson -- The Legend and Life of A.A.'s Cofounder     Matthew J. Raphael
University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, Mass., 2000.
ISBN: 1-55849-245-3
Dewey Call Number: B W11r 2000
LC: HV5032 .W19 R36 2000
This book was written by another stepper -- the name 'Matthew Raphael' is a pen name -- and it generally praises Bill Wilson and recites the party line about most things, but it also contains a bunch of surprises, like detailing Bill's sexual infidelities, his and Bob's spook sessions -- talking to the 'spirits' in séances through the use of Ouija boards, spirit rapping, and channeling, LSD use, and publicity-hound megalomania.

My Name Is Bill; Bill Wilson -- His Life And The Creation Of Alcoholics Anonymous     Susan Cheever
Simon & Schuster, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, 2004.
ISBN: 0-7432-0154-X
LC: HV5032.W19C44 2004
Dewey: 362.292092--dc22 or B W11c 2004
Another biography of Bill Wilson written by a stepper with a bad case of hero worship. She glosses over and rationalizes all of Bill Wilson's faults. She even implies that Bill Wilson was right when he was conducting séances -- that he really was talking to the spirits of the dead.
See quotes here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Note that in November of 2004, Susan Cheever was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency -- the NCADD -- the A.A. front group founded by "Mrs." Marty Mann to promote Alcoholics Anonymous. If Cheever helps to write the NCADD promotional literature, then I would guess that there will be even less of a connection between reality and their propaganda.

Note Found In A Bottle: My Life as a Drinker     Susan Cheever
Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999.
ISBN: 0-684-80432-8
LC: HV5293.C49A3 1999
Dewey: 362.292092--dc21 or B Ch4155n 1999
LCCN: 98-26463 CIP
A rambling name-dropping drunkalogue by the previous author that left me feeling, "So what?" She ended the book, summing up her life story, by saying,

"It seems as though my belief in God should take up more space in this book, but it is intensely private and truly beyond my ability to describe. I don't understand God; I just believe in God...." (page 189).

"I didn't know I had to stop drinking, and I didn't know I could stop drinking. I didn't know I had to leave Warren [her husband], and I didn't know that I could leave Warren." (page 190).

I'll Cry Tomorrow     Lillian Roth
Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc., 386 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.
ISBN: 0-88391-074-8
Dewey: 792 R84
This is the story of a child movie star, popular in the nineteen-twenties and -thirties, who was a hard-core, ruined, dying alcoholic by the age of 34. Her descriptions of the horrors of alcoholism and addiction to alcohol are some of the most candid and graphic around. After treatment in a mental hospital and a relapse, she ostensibly found happiness in Alcoholics Anonymous.
The 12 steps and the religious nature of the A.A. program got a mere 2 pages (232-233), most of which was spent in reprinting the 12 steps and repeating the slogan that "It isn't religious, it's spiritual", and then she had lots of fun being a member of a secret society, starting up the first A.A. group in New Zealand (pages 256-259).
Unfortunately, this book is a very shallow treatment of the A.A. program. Also unfortunate was the fact that A.A. didn't work for her either. Nell Wing, Bill Wilson's secretary, wrote that Lillian Roth returned to drinking, just like so many of the other early A.A. members and "pioneers" (A.A. promoters). (Grateful To Have Been There, Nell Wing, pages 46-47.)
Also see the 1958 movie "I'll Cry Tomorrow", starring Susan Hayward, which was an adaptation of this book.

Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America     Carolyn See
Random House, New York, 1995.
This book tells us a bit about Carolyn See's step-mother Wynn C. (Corum), who was one of Bill Wilson's paramours, and consequently the author of the story "Freedom From Bondage" in the Big Book. More info, and a quote, here.

Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous     Ernest Kurtz
Hazelden Educational Foundation, Center City, MN, 1979.
ISBN: 0-899-486065-8 or ISBN: 0-89486-065-8 (pbk.)
LC: HV5278
LCCN: 79-88264
Dewey: 362.2/9286 or 362.29286 K87 1979
This is a very pro-A.A., toe-the-party-line history of Alcoholics Anonymous, but it is still a valuable resource for a wealth of historical facts and details.

A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous     Sally Brown and David R. Brown
Hazelden Information & Educational Services, Center City, MN, 2001.
ISBN: 1-56838-626-5
LC: HV5293.M155 B76 2001
LCCN: 00-054050
Dewey: 362.29'86'092--dc21 or B Ma3155b 2001
      This book fulfills the promise that "If it's from Hazelden, you know it's propaganda."
      The back cover starts the falsehoods: It says that Mrs. Marty Mann was a 'Pioneer public health reformer and author of "Women Suffer Too," the first story written by a woman in the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book.'
      No, it wasn't. Florence Rankin was the author of the story "A Feminine Victory" in the first edition of the Big Book. Back in 1939, when the Big Book first came out, Marty Mann was still a patient in Blythewood Sanitarium in Greenwich, Connecticut. Dr. Harry Tiebout handed her an early multilith copy of the Big Book to read, and she became a true believer. But Florence Rankin relapsed and disappeared, so Bill Wilson took her story out and put Marty's story in the second edition, and ever since, they have been trying to cover up the fact that Marty Mann was not the first woman in A.A. -- that the real first A.A. woman actually went out and died drunk. (She is said to have committed suicide in Washington, D.C..)
      After Marty sobered up, she dedicated her life to the cult, and spent the rest of her life campaigning for A.A., and proselytizing, breaking her anonymity and promoting A.A. in violation of the Eleventh Tradition: "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."
      Marty Man founded the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA), which was renamed to the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency (NCADD), which exists solely to promote 12-Step everything.

Al-Anon's favorite forum editorials     anonymous
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., New York, 1970.
ISBN: 0-910034-13-3
LCCN: 79-126349
Standard propaganda from Al-Anon. Why you wives should be happy to have an alcoholic husband. How to deal with it passively, always being the good little woman, always smiling, never nagging, always waiting patiently and gratefully for the noble A.A. men and God to solve the problem for you. And, of course, how to convince yourself that such stupid behavior is true "spirituality."

Al-Anon's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions     anonymous
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1981.
ISBN: 0-910034-24-9
LC: HV5278.A66 1990
Dewey: 362.2928 A319at or 362.2923 QBI92-20146
LCCN: 83-28087
This book attempts to copy the form and style of William G. Wilson's book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. It fails, however, to fully emulate his raving insanity and brain-damaged lunacy. It tries, though.

Hope for Today     Al-Anon Family Groups
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA, 2002.
ISBN: 0-910034-39-7
LCCN: 2002100375
A book of daily meditations. Some of the worst mind-bending drivel around. On average, even worse than Alcoholics Anonymous propaganda. This is the church that is dedicated to the insane proposition that you should spend the rest of your life grovelling and wallowing in guilt and powerlessness because Daddy drank too much alcohol.
Quotes: here.

First Steps; Al-Anon... 35 Years of Beginnings     anonymous
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., New York, 1986.
ISBN: 910035-57-5
LCCN: 85-073691
Dewey: 362.2928 F527
Official P.R. fluff. Why Al-Anon is so wonderful. A sanitized, beautified history.

The Little Red Book     Hazelden staff
Hazelden Foundation, Center City, Minnesota, 1957, 1986.
ISBN: 0-89486-004-6
Dewey: 362.2928 L778 1986
This book is actually just what it sounds like: a clone of Chinese Communist The Little Red Book of Chairman Mao. This Little Red Book is full of slogans and instructions for the faithful A.A. Party member, training him in Party tactics like how to use judges and police to force more people to go to A.A. meetings.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day     "Compiled by a member of the Group at Daytona Beach, Florida."
Hazelden Foundation, Center City, Minnesota, 1954, 1975.
ISBN: 0-89486-012-7
LCCN: 90-82493
Dewey: 291.43 TWENTY 1975
Another "daily meditations" kind of book; one cultish thought for every day of the year.

I must remember that in spiritual matters I am only an instrument. It is not mine to decide how or when I am to act. ...
March 15.

"Jawohl, mein Führer! You are right about everything. I exist only to follow your orders! Sieg Heil!"

The Promise of A New Day; A Book of Daily Meditations    Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg
Harper/Hazelden, Harper & Rowe, Publishers, New York and Hazelden Foundation, Center City, Minnesota, 1983, 1985.
ISBN: 0-86683-502-4
Dewey: 242.2 CASEY 1985
Another "daily meditations" kind of book; another cultish thought for every day of the year.

I can't speak the truth too often; it's new every day.
December 21.

"Is that why they don't tell the truth?"

Igniting the Spirit at Work; Daily Reflections    Marilyn Mason, Ph.D.
Hazelden Foundation, Center City, Minnesota, 2001.
ISBN: 1-56838-741-5
LC: BF481.M385 2001
Dewey: 158.128--dc21 or 158.128 M411i 2001
Yet another Hazelden "daily meditations" book. Surprisingly, not as negative and cultish as the others from Hazelden.

Just for today, I will ask myself whether I am comparing myself to someone else and whether it is for learning or for putting myself down.
May 29.

One Day At A Time In Al-Anon     Al-Anon staff
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., New York, 1990.
ISBN: 0-910034-21-4
Dewey: 613.81 AL
A collection of sayings and standard propaganda slogans, one for each day of the year. This bunch is for brainwashing the wives of the alcoholics. Really obnoxious, harmful stuff:

While the alcoholic picked up a drink and became drunk on alcohol, I picked up the alcoholic and became drunk on control and approval-seeking.
page 254, September 10.

As We Understood     Al-Anon staff
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., New York, 1985.
ISBN: 0-910034-56-7 (Erroneously listed as 910034-56-7 in the book.)
LCCN: 85-071379
Dewey: 613.81 AS
Another collection of standard slogans and cult theology.

Hope, Faith, and Courage; Stories from the Fellowship of Cocaine Anonymous     Cocaine Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Cocaine Anonymous World Services, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, 1993.
ISBN: 0-9638193-0-5 (hardcvr) ; ISBN: 0-9638193-1-3 (softcvr) ; ISBN: 0-9638193-9-9 (H&I edition)
A book of testimonials (proof by anecdote) from the headquarters of Cocaine Anonymous. Among other things, it teaches us the heresies that "Today I know that I am powerless over the outcome of everything and that my life is still unmanageable by me" (page 38), and GOD = "the Group Of Drug addicts at the meetings" (page 13). Most of the book is devoted to telling us that the story writers were miserable until they joined Cocaine Anonymous, and they were made just so happy by doing the Twelve Steps.

Big Book Unplugged; A Young Person's Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous    John R.
Hazelden, Center City, MN, 2003.
ISBN: 1-59285-038-3
Dewey: 362.292 R111b
This is largely extracts from the Big Book, rewritten with the goal of enticing young people into the organization. Rather insidious stuff, besides being incorrect. See this note for criticisms.

The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous     Dick B.
Paradise Research Publications, Inc., Box 959, Kihei, Maui, HI 96753-0959, 1992, 1998.
ISBN: 1-885803-17-6
Dewey: 362.2928 B111a 1998
See Dick's web site at: http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml
He has a good selection of books about the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Also see more history at: http://www.dickb.com/archives/history.shtml

New Light on Alcoholism; God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.     Dick B.
Paradise Research Publications, Inc., Box 959, Kihei, Maui, HI 96753-0959, 1994, 1999.
ISBN: 1-885803-27-3
LCCN: 98-92124
LC: HV5278.B03 1994 Dewey: 362.29'286
As the title implies, this book concentrates on the influence of Rev. Sam Shoemaker on A.A.. Good, extensive, well researched and documented. Written by a believer.

Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous     Nan Robertson
William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1988.
ISBN: 0-688-06869-3
LC: HV5278.R59 1988
Dewey: 362.2928 R651g or 362.2'9286--dc19
Another very standard, sanitized, history of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Full of factual errors, white-washes, and cover-ups.
For instance, on page 69 we are told that Henry Parkhurst just ran Honor Dealers and loaned Bill his secretary Ruth Hock, while Bill Wilson wrote all eleven of the opening chapters of the Big Book. That is wrong. That is Bill Wilson's lie. Henry wrote the "To Employers" chapter for sure, and probably much more. Henry even outlined and structured the entire book. Bill Wilson minimized Hank's work because Bill stole all of it.
On page 70 the authoress admits that Bill Wilson, and not Lois, wrote the "To Wives" chapter, but offers us no reason for Bill's deceptive claim that "The Wives of Alcoholics Anonymous" wrote it.
This authoress just goes along with Bill Wilson's statements on everything.
More quotes here and here.

The Recovery Book     Al J. Mooney, M.D., Arlene Eisenberg, Howard Eisenberg
Workman Publishing, New York, 1992.
ISBN: 1-56305-084-6 (pbk.)
LC: HV5275.M56 1992
LCCN: 92-50284
Dewey: 613.81 M00
The book is a veiled AA-pusher. It purports to be a fair, balanced, general-purpose recovery book, but it keeps coming back to saying that A.A., Al-Anon, and the Twelve Steps are the answer.
More quotes: here and here and here and here.

Serenity, A Companion for Twelve Step Recovery, Complete with New Testament Psalms & Proverbs, Dr. Robert Hemfelt and Dr. Richard Fowler
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Atlanta, London, Vancouver, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1990.
ISBN: 0-8407-1542-0
LC: BT736.4 .S47 1990
This is the book that is nicknamed "the Serenity Bible". It is mostly just books out of the Bible, but the front section, the first 80 pages, is pure 12-Step propaganda.
A sample quote here.

Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?     Charles Bufe
See Sharp Press, PO Box 1731, Tucson AZ 85702-1731, 1998.
ISBN: 1-884365-12-4
Dewey: 362.29286 B929a 1998
This book is an eye-opener. One of the first to tell the truth about A.A..
(This is the second edition; it has noticeably more information than the first edition. The first edition is: ISBN: 0-9613289-3-2, printed in 1991.)

This book is now available for free download at: http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp
(And you can also get Ken Ragge's books, The Real AA, and More Revealed, there.)

A History of Addiction & Recovery in the United States     Michael Lemanski
See Sharp Press, PO Box 1731, Tucson AZ 85702-1731, 2001.
ISBN: 1-884365-26-4
Dewey: 362.29180973 or 362.2918 L547h
Also from See Sharp Press, another excellent critical analysis of the whole recovery industry, including A.A., treatment centers, and "codependency therapy".
Quotes: Mental health in A.A.

Addiction, Change & Choice; The New View of Alcoholism     Vince Fox, M.Ed. CRREd.
See Sharp Press, PO Box 1731, Tucson AZ 85702-1731, 1993.
ISBN: 0-9613289-7-5
Dewey: 362.29286i FOX
And yet another great book from the See Sharp Press. Fox covers:

1. Heavy Drinking: Its Historical Context
2. Alcoholism: Definitions & Opinions
3. Polarization: Us vs. Them
4. The Objective: Personal Autonomy
5. Alcoholics Anonymous: Essence & Functions
6. Alcoholics Anonymous: Effectiveness
7. The Forces & Directions of Change
8. The Independent Self-Help Programs
9. Rational Recovery Systems Network
10. Traditional Recovery Management
11. Nontraditional Recovery Management
12. Noninstitutional Recovery
13. ...and more...

Talking Out of Alcoholism; The Self-Help Process of Alcoholics Anonymous     David Robinson
University Park Press, Baltimore MD, 1979.
ISBN: 0-8391-1371-4
LC: HV5278.R6 1979
LCCN: 78-20506
Dewey: 362.292
A fair and balanced study of Alcoholics Anonymous. There is nothing particularly new or revealing about this information; it's just a long and neutral analysis. As such, it unfortunately side-steps a few important questions like "How well do it really work?"

...there has never been a competent long term study of who goes to Alcoholics Anonymous.
Page 26.

The Useful Lie     William L. Playfair, M.D. with George Bryson
Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois, A division of Good News Publishers, 1991.
ISBN: 0-89107-637-9
LC: BV4596.A48P42 1991
LCCN: 91-21797
Dewey: 261.83229--dc20
An interesting exposé of Alcoholics Anonymous, coming from both a scientific and biblical point of view: "The real truth from the Bible and science about addictions and codependence -- and how you can be free of them!"
In spite of its very unusual approach, this book makes a lot of good points, and clearly shows that A.A. dogma is false both from a medical and theological viewpoint, as in:

The irony of a Twelve Step program customized for Christians is that many who use it believe it is not only effective but Biblical. ... If the original Twelve Step program needs to be "adapted" for Christians, it seems odd to say that it is "Biblically based." What kind of double talk is going on here? Unfortunately, this kind of confusion is characteristic of the literature of "Christianized" recovery programs.
      After all is said and done, Christians do not seem to be making the recovery industry approach more compatible with Biblical Christianity. On the contrary, the recovery industry seems to be influencing the Christian approach.
The Useful Lie, William L. Playfair, M.D. with George Bryson, pages 84-85, and 185-186 (footnote).

See: The Heresy Of The Twelve Steps, here and here for more.

Alcoholics Anonymous Unmasked; Deception and Deliverance     Cathy Burns
Companion Press, Shippensburg PA, 1991.
ISBN: 5-56043-449-X
Dewey: 362.2928
An exposé of A.A. from a fundamentalist Christian point of view.

Understanding the Twelve Steps     Terence T. Gorski
A Fireside Book, published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 1989.
ISBN: 0-671-76558-2
LC: HV5278 .G67 1991
Dewey: 362.29'286--dc20
LCCN: 89-77134
This is just the usual 12-Step dogma, cut and pasted by a paper shredder. -- Meaning, there is not a single new, different, creative, or original thought in the whole book; it's just the same old stuff, slightly rearranged.
      What is curious is the fact that three years later, Terence Gorski quite perceptively denounced the entire Adult Children of Alcoholics and co-dependency movement:

In 1992, Terence Gorski, a prominent spokesperson within the field of addictions, addressing a conference of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, stated:

If I were hired by the enemies of the chemical dependency field ... I couldn't give them a better strategy [to destroy the field] than the adult children of alcoholics movement and the codependency movement. When we as a field expanded addictions to include all compulsive disorders we destroyed our constituency base ... destroyed our funding base ... destroyed our economic stability.

The Tenacity of Error in the treatment of addiction, Michael J. Lemanski, Humanist, May/Jun97, Vol. 57 Issue 3, p18.

Grandchildren of Alcoholics; Another Generation of Co-dependency     Ann W. Smith
Health Communications, Inc., Pompano Beach, Florida, 1988.
ISBN: 0932194-55-9
LC: HV5132.S65 1988
Dewey: 362.292
LCCN: 87-23594
Some pretty entertaining quack medicine -- well, entertaining unless you are a victim of it. This authoress even wants to shove the grandchildren of alcoholics into 28-day inpatient treatment programs. See these quotes.

Adult Children of Alcoholics     Janet Geringer Woititz, Ed.D.
Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, 1983.
ISBN: 1-55874-112-7
Dewey: 362.292 W847a 1983
Simplistic, stupid, pseudo-intellectual bull passed off as some kind of psychology. This book sells a monstrous stereotype of all children of alcoholics, and declares that they all suffer from the same psychological defects. See quote here.

The Complete ACOA Sourcebook; Adult Children of Alcoholics at Home, at Work, and in Love     Janet Geringer Woititz, Ed.D.
Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, 2002.
ISBN: 1-55874-960-8
LC: HV5132.W63 2002
Dewey: 362.292 W847c 2002
This book is just a continuation of Woititz's previous book, and it continues to promote a simplistic stereotype of "the Adult Child of an Alcoholic". Not surprisingly, she declares that "Reading the book Adult Children of Alcoholics is the first step toward recovery." (Page 148.)

Reclaim Your Family From Addiction; How Couples and Families Recover Love and Meaning     Craig Nakken
Hazelden Information and Educational Services, Center City, MN, 2000.
ISBN: 1-56838-519-6
LC: HV5132.N35 2000
Dewey: 362.2913-dc21 or 362.29 N163r 2000
More 12-Step cult baloney, this time from the Hazelden publishing plant. Again, we are treated to the standard stereotypes of spouses and children of alcoholics, culminating in a recomendation that we join the 12-Step cult religion. And as usual, the author manages to twist things around in a bait-and-switch con game. The author starts with the usual come-on, sympathizing about how unfortunate it was that you were the abused child of an alcoholic, or the spouse of an alcoholic. The the author switches to declarations that you are wrong about most everything. Spouses of addicts, whom the author calls "co-addicts", are invited to join Alcoholics Anonymous or Al-Anon with these statements:

Members of these recovery programs read, talk with others who have had similar experiences, and study the spiritual principles found within the Twelve Steps. Individuals are encouraged to understand how they, not their partners, have betrayed these principles. We are encouraged to see what we did wrong, not what others did. Taking our own inventories helps us define our own behavior and motivation. Members are supported in taking a long and hard look at how addiction has changed them. Page 148.

Passages Through Recovery; An action Plan for Preventing Relapse     Terence T. Gorski
Hazelden Information & Educational Services, Center City, Minnesota, 1989.
ISBN: 1-56838-139-5
LCCN: 89-80190
Dewey: 362.2928 G674p 1989
More of the same old stuff. Once again, you will be taught how to work the 12 steps. The author does try to dress this book up a bit with "personality tests" and the like, but the answers are all the usual 12-Step theology and pseudo-psychology.

Prophets of Psychoheresy II     Martin and Deidre Bobgan
EastGate Publishers, Santa Barbara, California, 1990.
ISBN: 0-941717-04-6
LC: BR110.B54 1989
LCCN: 89-83800
This book challenges the opinions of Dr. James Dobson, which the authors consider to be heresy masquerading as psychology. Hence the name "psychoheresy". Chapter 17 is another exposé of A.A. and A.C.A. from a fundamentalist Christian point of view.

The Varieties of Religious Experience     William James
The Modern Library, New York, 1994. (Reprint)
(Originally printed in 1902.)
ISBN: 0-679-60075-2
Dewey: 201 J23v 1994
This is the classic tome on religious experiences which has been praised by everybody from Bill Wilson to Aldous Huxley to Timothy Leary. This is also the book that gave Bill Wilson the idea of making the second half of the Big Book all stories of people's A.A. experiences -- James' book is filled with such stories about people's religious experiences.

More Revealed: A Critical Analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps     Ken Ragge, 1992.
ALERT! Publishing, P.O. Box 50233, Henderson, Nevada 89016-0233
The first chapter of More Revealed, which specifically covers Frank Buchman and the earliest days of A.A., is available free on the Internet at
http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp
You can also get Charles Bufe's book Alcoholics Anonymous, Cult or Cure? there.

AA Horror Stories     Rebecca Fransway
See Sharp Press, PO Box 1731, Tucson AZ 85702-1731, 2000.
ISBN: 1-884365-24-8
Dewey: 362.2918 T971 2000
This book will curl your hair. One fair-minded 12-Stepper suggested that every new A.A. member should be issued copies of both the Big Book and this book when he or she walks in the door, to tell the newcomers about both the good and the bad things that could happen to them in "the rooms." One of the most disturbing repeated themes is women who were the victims of rape or thirteenth-stepping being told to just shut up and find their part in it and go make some coffee, and to not harbor any resentments against their attackers.
This book is now available for free download at: http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp

Delirium Tremens, Stories of Suffering and Transcendence     Ignacio Solares
Hazelden, Center City, MN, 2000
ISBN: 1-56838-518-8
Dewey: 616.861 S684d
This pro-A.A. piece of propaganda from Hazelden is another collection of stories of people who were allegedly miserable until they discovered A.A., the Twelve Steps, and God. It follows pretty much the same proof-by-anecdote strategy as you will find in the Big Book.

The Way Home, A Collective Memoir of the Hazelden Experience     The Hazelden staff
Hazelden, Center City, MN, 1997
This is just more Hazelden propaganda, really outrageous propaganda. Again, it is stories of people whose lives were allegedly changed for the better by discovering Hazelden, A.A., the Twelve Steps, and God (and by paying Hazelden $15,000 for a 28-day stay).

The Harder They Fall; Celebrities Tell Their Real-Life Stories of Addiction and Recovery     Gary Stromberg and Jane Merrill
Hazelden, Center City, MN 55012-0176, 2005.
ISBN:-13: 978-1-59285-156-0
LC: HV5824.C42S87 2005
Dewey: 616.860922--dc22 or 616.86 S921h 2005
A collection of stories of addiction and recovery that carry a hidden message: that treatment centers like Hazelden are good helpful things, and actually somehow work. And of course they also tell you that A.A. meetings are the new way of life. We discussed this book in letters here

The 12 Steps to Happiness     Joe Klaas
The Hazelden Foundation, Center City, MN, 1982.
Paperback edition published by Ballentine Books, New York, 1990.
ISBN: 0-345-36787-1
Just another piece of propaganda that explains the 12 steps to us. This book includes religious teachings like,
"The wrong kinds of prayer can be a form of black magic, for when we seek to use a supernatural force to help us achieve our goals, it ceases to be supernatural and becomes superhuman. To make God into a servant is to place him under our superhuman power. Yet is this not exactly what we have long been taught to do? To get down on our knees and pray for God to go to work for us?" -- Page 140.
So if we ask for God's help, we are practicing black magic?
And if you ask God to help you quit drinking and doping, is that black magic?
If so, then acting-President G.W. Bush is guilty of it, because that's what he says he did...
I can't help but be curious about what the other churches would have to say about this...
And, as usual, I am left with the question:
"What does any of this theological argument have to do with quitting drinking?"

Power Recovery; Twelve Steps for a New Generation     James Wiley
Paulist Press, New York and Mahwah, N.J., 1995.
ISBN: 0-8091-3552-3
LC: HV5275.W55 1995
LCCN: 94-43302
Dewey: 616.86'106--dc20
For the life of me, I couldn't see what was new or different about it. It looked like the same old 12-Step stuff to me.
Quote: here.

Relapse Traps; How to Avoid Them     Robert Ramsey Ed.D.
Ventura Press, Ventura, California, 1998.
ISBN: 1-879899-00-0
LCCN: 98-065294
Dewey: 362.2928 R183r
This book is an interesting mixture of good advice and the same old bad 12-Step garbage. For instance: (pages 110,111)

• Cut down on caffeine, nicotine, and sugar.
• Stay away from people who anger, threaten, frustrate or intimidate you, including old drinking buddies.
• Listen to music. It really does soothe the savage breast.
• "Persist in working the 12 steps of AA. Each is a stepping stone toward serenity."
• "Continue going to AA meetings. The mere act of attendance helps to lower stress."

Flowers in the Blood: the story of opium     Dean Latimer and Jeff Goldberg
Franklin Watts, New York, London, Toronto, Syndey, 1981.
ISBN: 0-531-09853-2 (hard cover); 0-531-09859-1 (paperback)
LC: HV5816.L34
LCCN: 81-10514
Dewey: 362.293
Describes the Towns-Lambert "belladonna cure" that Bill Wilson was given in Town's Hospital (pages 247-250) for his alcoholism. The belladonna cure started off as a cure for opium addiction, but Charles Towns "turned into a perfect crackpot" and pushed the belladonna cure as a panacea -- a cure-all. Note that Charles Towns was "a Georgia insurance salesman who made a fortune dosing middle-class addicts with hyoscyamine and strychnine..." (p.248) Towns was not a doctor.

... before long [Towns] was billing his cure as guaranteed to work for any compulsive behavior, from morphinism to nicotinism to caffeinism, to kleptomania and bedwetting.
(p. 249.)

Lambert's defection from the Towns-Lambert Cure was also based on the need to revise his cure estimate significantly downward; as time went on, he began to notice that people kept coming back for the cure, cure after cure, for years on end.
(p. 249.)

How to Quit Drugs including Alcohol     L. Douglas Taylor
Vantage Press, New York, 1999.
ISBN: 0-533-12169-8
Dewey: 362.29 T2435h 1999
LCCN: 96-90788
More 12-Step dogma and misinformation disguised as helpful advice. See quote here.

Twelve-Step Guide To Using The Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book     Herb K.
Capizon Publishing, Torrance, California, 2004.
ISBN: 0-9659672-2-0
Dewey: 362.2928 K11t 2001
This book says that prayer is the answer to everything. Literally. The word prayer appears on almost every page. Herb K. has a prayer for every one of the Twelve Steps, and then more prayers as exercises, then more, and more...

• "This man, Jerry R., introduced me to a very structured method of approaching the Big Book based on ... Prayer, Reading, Consideration/reflection, Writing, Discussion." (p. 6)
• "He asked me to pray each time I sat down to do any of the assignments." (p. 7)
• "Therefore, my instructions begin by asking you to use the following 'set aside' prayer: 'God, please let me set aside everything that I think I know about myself, my disease, the Twelve Steps and you, God...'" (p. 20)

Alcoholic Thinking: Language, Culture, and Belief in Alcoholics Anonymous     Danny M. Wilcox
Praeger, Westport Connecticut and London, 1998.
ISBN: 0-275-96049-8 (hardcover)
LCCN: 97-34740
LC: HV5045.W55 1998
Dewey: 362.292'86--dc21
This is an authoritive book that purports to be a neutral study of A.A. and A.A. thinking, but it echoes the standard party line far too much. It basically manages to condense all of the dogma and misinformation in the first 164 pages of the Big Book and reprint it in 124 pages. It repeats all of the standard doctrines, like "powerless over alcohol", and only criticizes the most ridiculous aspects of A.A., like the superstitious use of A.A. coins as magical charms or fetishes, and the "no medications" beliefs of members.
Quotes: here.

Understanding the Alcoholic's Mind; The Nature of Craving and How to Control It     Arnold M. Ludwig, M.D.
Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1988.
ISBN: 0-19-504878-4
LC: RC565.L83 1988
Dewey: 616.861
Some simple, common-sense information, but flavored with 12-Step dogma. He has, unfortunately, a whole chapter on "the dry drunk".

Clinical Supervision in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling     David J. Powell, with Archie Brodsky
Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley, San Francisco, 2004.
ISBN: 0-7879-7377-7 (alk. paper)
LC: HV5276.P68 2004
Dewey: 362.2918 P882c 2004
A book that tries to teach people how to supervise drug and alcohol counselors. Unfortunately, the model of treatment advanced is called "The Blended Model", which is just a mish-mash of everything that has already failed, like Alcoholics Anonymous and the so-called "Minnesota Model". The book advances A.A. with arguments like

'The twelve-step movement has been called "the greatest social movement of the twentieth century" (Naisbitt and Aburdene 1990).'
(Page 147.)

"In the twelve-step approach, two primary goals -- acceptance and surrender -- form the basis for early recovery from alcoholism or addiction.
      Acceptance is the breakdown of the illusion that through will-power alone one can limit or control substance abuse. ...
      Surrender involves a reaching out for help beyond oneself..."
(Pages 147-148.)

How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics; Using Behavioral Clues to Recognize Addiction in its Early Stages     Doug Thorburn
Galt Publishing, Northridge, California, 2004.
ISBN: 0-9675788-6-8
LCCN: 2003114993
This book pushes the worst kind of quackery. Doug Thorburn is a financial planner who for some reason decided to spend a year sitting in A.A. meetings, listening to their stories, and then he decided that he's now an expert on alcoholism. This book puts forth the worst kind of stereotype of "the alcoholic". Believe it or not, Thorburn says that some of the key factors that will reveal a hidden alcoholic to you include:

1. Over-achiever, due to a need to win at any cost
2. Regularly uses foul language
3. Smokes cigarettes
4. Extraordinarily charming
5. Occupational choices that allow the wielding of power or ease of use
6. Engages in risky behavior in reckless fashion
7. Has a "the rules don't apply to me" attitude
8. Compulsive gambler
9. Pontificates
10. and so on....

      African-Americans, totaling only 12% of the American population, comprise 40% of prison inmates. Rather than suggesting that this racial group consists of more "bad" people than do those of other ancestries, or that white cops are more likely to arrest non-whites, we might consider the possibility that people of certain ancestries have a greater genetic predisposition to alcoholism than do others.
(Page 75.)

So, being black is a physical sign of early-stage alcoholism?
Those Blacks are just born alcoholics?

Much more about Doug Thorburn and his books here.

Smashed; Story of a Drunken Girlhood     Koren Zailckas
Viking, the Penguin Group, New York and London, 2005.
ISBN: 0-670-03376-6
LC: HV5293.Z35A3 2005
Dewey: 616.861092--dc21 or 616.861 Z21s 2005
An interesting, easily-read drunkalogue that is somehow quite clear about the whole thing. The authoress explains that she does not consider herself an alcoholic; she calls herself an alcohol abuser, and explains that she started drinking very early, like at 14, and drank heavily all through high school and college, and then she quit drinking when it became too expensive.

The Glass Castle; a memoir     Jeanette Walls
Scribner, New York, NY, 2005.
ISBN: 0-7432-4753-1
LC: HV5132.W35 2005
Dewey: 362.82092--dc22 or B Wa1589g 2005
A really great book. The authoress describes a terribly harsh and deprived childhood as the daughter of a crazy alcoholic father and an equally crazy mother who fancied herself an artist. The authoress' candidness is refreshing. And she finally manages to escape -- and to get all of her siblings away from the parents and to a saner environment -- without resort to Al-Anon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, or any such guilt-inducing 12-Step nonsense.
      What puzzles me most is just what you would call the kind of insanity that the father exhibited. Whatever it was, it was the cause, not the effect, of the alcoholism. The father was crazy long before he started drinking heavily. The cause might have been that he was also an abused child of alcoholics. When he took his family back to West Virginia to live with his mother, the authoress saw that Grandma kept a bottle of liquor hidden in a pocket of her dress, and she was as crazy as Father was, even trying to molest the authoress' younger brother.

SHAM: how the self-help movement made America helpless     Steve Salerno
Crown Publishers, New York c2005.
ISBN: 1400054095
Dewey: 155.2 S163s 2005
Contents: Introduction : Hopelessly hooked on help -- The culprits -- How we got here--wherever here is -- False prophets, false profits -- Dr. Phil Mcgraw : absolute power -- Tony Robbins : leaps (and bounds) of faith -- "Ya gotta want it!" -- Put me in, coach, I'm ready to pay -- Killer performances : the rise of the contrepreneur -- The consequences -- You are all diseased -- Looking for love-- on all the wrong bases? -- I'm OK, you're-- how do you spell OK again? -- Patient, heal thyself -- Conclusion : a SHAM society.

Periodicals:

Doctors in A.A.; the profession's skepticism persists, but MDs in Alcoholics Anonymous say the 12-Step program could benefit all physicians     C. Thomas Anderson
American Medical News, Jan 12, 1990 v33 n2 p33(2)
This is a screwy piece of A.A.-booster propaganda that declares that the 12 steps would be wonderful for all doctors, if only they would quit thinking, and stop trying to be scientific.

Treatment of Drug Abuse and Addiction, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, Volume 12, Numbers 2,3, & 4, Aug. (Part I), Sept. (Part II), Oct. 1995 (Part III).
A good overview of the state of the art, by the Harvard Medical School.
Quote here.

American Health Magazine, J. Gurion, March 1990.
Reported that: ...people are about ten times as likely to change on their own as with the help of doctors, therapists, or self-help groups.

Comments on A.A.'s Triennial Surveys [no author listed, published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York, no date (probably 1990)]. The document has an A.A. identification number of "5M/12-90/TC".
This document tells us that 95% of the newcomers to A.A. drop out in the first year.
Quote here.

The Alcoholism Report, Feb 1991 v19 n7 p8(2).
Reports on one of the GSO surveys. Quote here.

"THE UNFORTUNATE HISTORY OF ADDICTIONS TREATMENT ALSO MAY BE THE UNFORTUNATE FUTURE OF ADDICTIONS TREATMENT", Scott McMillin,
Addiction Letter, May 1994, Vol. 10, Issue 5, p3.
Full text available on EBSCO here
Propaganda that says that 12-Step counselors know more than real doctors. Quote here.

Relapse Prevention with Substance Abusers: Clinical Issues and Myths, Dennis Daley.
Social Work, March-April 1987, pages 139-140.
Quote here.

Drunk with Power, Stanton Peele, Reason, May 2001, Vol. 33, Issue 1, p34, 5pp.
Describes the failure of Texas' correctional substance abuse treatment programs. Quote here.

Peele, Stanton, The Sciences, 1998, vol. 38, no. 2, Mar-Apr, pp. 17-21.
"...the most widely used alcoholism treatments (Twelve-Step) are the least effective."
Quote here.

A randomized trial of treatment options for alcohol-abusing workers     Dr. Diana Chapman Walsh et al.
The New England Journal of Medicine, 325:775-782, 1991.
One of the few valid studies of the effectiveness of A.A. treatment -- a randomized longitudinal controlled study. It found that sending alcoholics to the "free" A.A. meetings did not save much money; for many alcoholics, it was a very expensive choice because A.A. just made them worse, so that they required greater amounts of expensive hospitalization later.
See: orange-effectiveness.html#Walsh

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Counseling Profession: Philosophies in conflict by Christine Le, Erik P. Ingvarson, and Richard C. Page,
Journal of Counseling & Development, 07-01-1995, page 603.
Describes problems with testing the success rate of A.A.. Quote here.

Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity; Project MATCH Posttreatment Drinking Outcomes,
by Project MATCH Research Group, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, January 1997, pp. 7-29.
Reports some of the results of Project MATCH. Quote here.

Rewriting the Book on How to Treat Alcoholics, the editorial staff, ScienceNOW magazine, 12-17-1996.
A report on Project MATCH: "All therapies, however, appeared to be equally effective..." Quote here.

Correlates of Past-Year Status Among Treated and Untreated Persons with Former Alcohol Dependence: United States, 1992, by Deborah A. Dawson.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Vol. 20, No. 4, June 1996, p. 773.
Quote here.

The effects of sponsorship in 12-Step treatment of injection drug users, Byron L. Crape, Carl A. Latkin, Alexandra S. Laris, Amy R. Knowlton (all of the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA),
[Journal of] Drug & Alcohol Dependence, Vol 65(3), Feb 2002, pp. 291-301.
URL: http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/5/0/6/0/5/2/
Reported that the sponsorship system of A.A. and N.A. did not help the newcomers at all. But it did seem to help the old-timers. Quote here.

Placebo And Opioid Treatment Activate Same Neuronal Network, Reuters Health, Feb 08, 2002.
http://www.sciencexpress.org
Quote here.

"Help Me, I Can't Help Myself", the ABC News 20/20 TV program, April 21, 2003.
Quote here.

Frank Buchman and The Oxford Groups:

Twice-Born Men, A Clinic In Regeneration, A Footnote In Narrative to Professor William James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience"     Harold Begbie
Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, Chicago, Toronto, London, and Edinburgh, 1909.
Dewey: 248 B41
The importance of this book is only that it leads to the next one. This book consists of several stories of religious conversion of criminals and other sociopaths, reminiscent of the stories in James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience". The next book appears to be the same thing, but is in fact just a glorification of Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman as he converts people.

Twice-Born Men, Narratives of a Recent Movement in the Spirit of Personal Religion     Harold Begbie
G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, The Knickerbocker Press, 1923.
Dewey: 248 B41m
This book fawns over and glorifies Dr. Frank Buchman as a religious leader. For some strange reason, perhaps a conceit of modesty, Frank Buchman is never explicitly named; he is always referred to as "F.B.". This book is basically a collection of stories of Frank Buchman making converts. As a historical document, it does give a peek into another world.

For Sinners Only     Arthur James "A. J." Russell
Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1932.
Dewey: 248 R96
More Oxford Group propaganda, written by a true believer in the cult. This book is especially good for the glimpse into Buchman's world that it gives. Just don't expect the stories to be entirely accurate or honest.
Quotes: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

One Thing I Know     A. J. Russell
Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1933.
Dewey: 248 R96o
Describes the author's conversion to Buchmanism. Gives a first-hand glimpse of Frank Buchman.
Quotes: here, here, here, here, and here.

God Calling     A. J. Russell
This book is the delusions of a couple of old ladies who believed that they were hearing the voice of Jesus Christ when they conducted séances. This book is their record of all of the 'messages' that they received. Quotes: here.

On the Tail of a Comet, The Life of Frank Buchman     Garth Lean
Helmers & Howard, Colorado Springs, CO 80933, 1985.
ISBN: 0-939443-07-4
Dewey: B Bu853L
This book is a total white-wash of Frank Buchman, and large parts of it are complete fabrications, like the author's account of how Buchman tried to warn America about the dangers of fascism and Hitler before World War II, rather than actually praising and admiring Hitler, which Buchman really did. See the tail end of the file "The Religious Roots of The Twelve Steps" for a review.

Frank Buchman: a life     Garth Lean
Constable and Company Ltd, London, 1985.
ISBN: 0-09-466650-4
LC: BV3785.B8 or BJ10.M6B834 1985
Dewey: B Bu853L or 269.20924
This book is the same as the one above, On the Tail of a Comet, The Life of Frank Buchman. This appears to be an identical printing, just done in Great Britain and released with a different title. (The same text is on the same-numbered pages).

Remaking the World     Frank N. D. Buchman
Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, 1949.
LC: BJ10M6B8
Dewey: 170 B919r
This is the collected speeches and sermons of Frank Buchman, probably the single most complete collection of the thoughts and statements of Buchman.

Frank Buchman As I Knew Him     H. W. 'Bunny' Austin
Grosvenor Books, London, 1975.
ISBN: 0-901269-16-6
Dewey: 248.2 Au76
Another grovelling true believer praises Frank Buchman. Bunny Austin was the former famous Davis Cup tennis player (and draft dodger) whom Buchman used as a decoration at so many Oxford Group house parties and conventions.

I Was A Pagan     V. C. "Vic" Kitchen
Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1934.
LC: BV4935.K5A2 1934a
Another pathetic piece of propaganda. It follows the standard formula of "I was miserable. My life was pointless. All I was doing was making big money on Wall Street. And then the stock market crashed and I was really miserable. 'I was not going to be able to accumulate a fortune enabling me to retire within twenty years.' (Page 8.) My wife and children didn't like me either. But then I discovered Frank Buchman's cult religion, and I dedicated my life to that, and now I am so happy."
Still, this book is valuable for the insight it gives into the Oxford Group cult.
Quotes: here, here, here, here, and here.
Photographs of Vic Kitchen: here, and here.

The Message of Frank Buchman     R. C. Mowat (Formerly Scholar of Hertford College, Oxford; Lecturer in History, Royal Naval College, Greenwich)
Blandford Press, London, 1951.
If it was printed by Blandford Press, you know it's pro-MRA propaganda, and this small 58-page booklet is no exception. It only uses eight other MRA books for its source material. It abounds with such double-talk as, "Moral Re-Armament is the ideology of inspired democracy" (page 14) without seeing any problem with the total lack of elections in MRA -- nobody ever elected Frank Buchman or any of the other leaders of the Oxford Group or MRA. To the Buchmanites, absolute dictatorships were "democracy".
      The back cover sums up the author's attitude:

      After more than 6,000 years of development, civilization is faced with collapse. The only alternative to catastrophe, barbarism and a Dark Age -- possibly to the extinction of mankind -- would seem to be the coming of a type of society more advanced than civilization as we know it.   ...
      The author maintains that significant experiments in building such a society have taken place during the last 2,000 years. He traces their effect on the social relations and culture of the world around, and concludes that there is a pattern of society which could be carried into effect by a 'creative minority' with a global strategy and the necessary dynamism to overcome the challenge of materialistic totalitarian forces. The author believes that an examination of the world scene reveals that through Moral Re-Armament this is already taking place.

Design For Dedication     Peter Howard
Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1964.
LCCN: 64-23017
Dewey: 248 H85d
Peter Howard is the man who took over leadership of the Moral Re-Armament organization after Frank Buchman's death. As you can imagine, he has nothing but praise for Buchmanism. This is a collection of his speeches on a variety of subjects, ranging from religion to anti-Communism.

Britain and the Beast     Peter Howard
Heinemann, London, 1963.
LC: BJ10.M6
LCCN: 76-232657
Dewey: 248/.25
This is some of Howard's most hateful and vicious writing. He devotes two whole chapters, out of the 14 in the book, to raving about homosexuals.

Remaking Men     Paul Campbell, M.D. and Peter Howard
Arrowhead Books, Inc., New York, 1954.
LC: BJ10.M6C3 1954a
Pure Buchmanite propaganda. Really crazy, perverted and hateful stuff that even tells us that married couples should not 'indulge' in making love or having sex, except to create children. Explains and rationalizes Buchman's odd theology like the Four Absolutes, and then praises Frank Buchman and Moral Re-Armament, and then gives us some anti-Communist and anti-labor arguments, and then gives a few proof-by-anecdote stories like the conversion of Bill Pickle the Bootlegger into Bill the Bootlicker -- "The Making of a Miracle". This book actually purports to teach us how to diagnose "the sexually driven" -- both heterosexual and homosexual. Pages 60 to 62 reprint the ridiculous MRA stereotype of "the homosexual" as someone who wears suede shoes and favors green clothes. And the authors teach us that "A most reliable sign of sexual defeat is piosity. Men who are unctuous and unreal are licked by impurity."
Quotes: here, and here, and here, and here, and here.

Ideas Have Legs     Peter Howard
Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 1946.
LC: BV4915.H725 1946
More of Peter Howard's crazy opinions on everything. This book is more autobiographical than the others.

Innocent Men     Peter Howard
William Heinemann Ltd., London and Toronto, 1941.
First printing April 1941; reprinted May 1941.
LC: BV4915.H73
This is Peter Howard's first book, a book of praise of the Oxford Groups which attempts to refute all of the criticism and negative publicity which the Groups were receiving. This is the book of praise of Frank Buchman that Peter Howard wrote before he had ever met Frank Buchman.
Quotes: here and here and here and here and here and here.

Frank Buchman's Secret     Peter Howard
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961.
LCCN: 62-15095
Dewey: 248 H85f
More praise of Frank Buchman from Peter Howard. Peter Howard is the man who took over the leadership of Moral Re-Armament when Frank Buchman died. As you can imagine, he was a true believer and had nothing but praise for Buchman. This book is some of the most outrageous, grandiose, propaganda you will find -- cult propaganda written by one of the cult leaders. Some pretty intense garbage. If you wish to look straight into the mouth of the Beast, this book will give you a good view. Some quotes:

• either/or propaganda technique
• unprovable statements

Moral Re-Armament -- What Is It?     Basil Entwistle and John McCook Roots
Pace Publications, Los Angeles, 1967.
LCCN: 67-20414
Dewey: 248 E62m
More pure propaganda from a couple of life-long members of Frank Buchman's cult. Basil Entwistle was a British draft dodger who came to the USA to avoid the British draft during World War II, and John McCook Roots was the son of Bishop Logan Roots, who threw Frank Buchman out of China in the nineteen-twenties, only to later become a true believer convert to Buchmanism.
Pace Publications was the publishing house of MRA in the USA.
Still, this book contains some interesting history, including a selection of speeches by Frank Buchman and Peter Howard, both of whom had died by the time this book was written. This book also covers the last days of the cult, including the Sing Out and Up With People productions.

Born To Upturn The World: The people who are making the Sing-Out explosion, "Up With People"     David Allen
Copyright Moral Re-Armament, Inc., 1967.
Pace Publications, 835 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90017, 1967.
Dewey: 224.55 A425
This is a small booklet of propaganda that praises the Sing Out and Up With People shows.
Pace Publications was the publishing house of MRA in the USA.
This book is in possession of the Conception Abbey & Seminary Library, Conception, Missouri.
Inter-Library Loan number: 3 7200 00038 2153.

What Is Behind The Up With People! Movement?     Vince Conner
An unpublished term paper for a Moral Theology class, May 19, 1968.
I question some of the author's assumptions about how Moral Re-Armament was okay with the Catholic Church. In particular, he states that he wrote to the office of Bishop Noa of Marquette (Detroit, Michigan, USA), about the Bishop's criticism of MRA (published here), and was told that the Bishop had changed his mind completely and that MRA was okay now. Excuse me, but the Bishop of Marquette cannot change the Pope's mind for him. It was a Vatican ban on MRA, not the Bishop's ban.
This paper is in possession of the Conception Abbey & Seminary Library, Conception, Missouri, and is hidden inside the previous book, Born To Upturn The World.
Inter-Library Loan number: 3 7200 00038 2153.

Born To Live In the Future; Up With People at 25     Dr. Morris Martin
Copyright 1990, Up With People.
Up With People, 3103 North Campbell Avenue, Tucson AZ 85719.
Dewey: 780.601 M364bo
Another book about the Up With People show, written by one of the surviving life-long members of Frank Buchman's cult.

The Eight Points of The Oxford Group, An Exposition for Christians and Pagans     C. Irving Benson
Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press, Cathedral Buildings, Melbourne, Australia, 1936.
Dewey: 248 B47
This is a very pro-Buchman book. It is practically a how-to manual for Buchmanism. As such, it sometimes degenerates into absurdity and double-talk, like this footnote on page 45. After asking, "Are absolute love, purity, honesty, and unselfishness possible?", Benson wrote:

There is no need to raise questions of metaphysics or philosophy and argue about the word 'absolute,' the real meaning of which nobody knows. 'Absolute' is used by the Group in the practical sense and means 'perfect.'

Funny, but all of my dictionaries know what the word "absolute" means... And it's odd that the author thinks that "perfect" is more practical and attainable than "absolute." The author overlooks the fact that both "absolute" and "perfect" are ridiculous cultish demands for super-human perfection.

This advertising-slogan double-talk is good too:

The Oxford Group Movement is not a new religion; it is religion anew. Every upsurge of spiritual life in the history of Christianity has been the rediscovery and re-emphasis of neglected truths.
-- Page 58.

Yes, like the forgotten and neglected truths that Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler were really great fellows.

Experiment with God; Frank Buchman Reconsidered     Gösta Ekman
Translated from Swedish by Dr. John Morrison
Hodder and Stoughton, London, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto, 1972.
LC: BJ10.M6 E38
This pro-Buchmanite tract was written after Frank Buchman's death by a Swedish true believer. Lots of double talk and double-think. See quotes.

Life Began Yesterday     Stephen Foot
Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1935.
Dewey: 248 F68
Another book that praises the Oxford Groups and the teachings of Frank N.D. Buchman.

Dynamic Out Of Silence; Frank Buchman's relevance today     Theophil Spoerri
Grosvenor Books, London, 1976.
Originally published as Dynamik aus der Stille, Caux Verlag, Luzern, Switzerland, 1971.
ISBN: 0-901269-19-0
Pure propaganda. A falsified and sanitized history of Frank Buchman and his various "movements".
Grosvenor Books is the MRA publishing house in London.

Preview of a New World     Arthur Strong
Privately printed, apparently in 1993. No copyright notice or date.
No ISBN: number.
No Library of Congress number.
Dewey: 267.16 P951
ILL (InterLibrary Loan) number: 3 1120 01925 1791     (Salt Lake City Public Library, 210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111)
This is a fascinating piece of history. It is a large collection of photographs and newspaper articles about Frank Buchman, the Oxford Group Movement, and Moral Re-Armament that come mostly from the period of time right around World War II. Arthur Strong was a British photographer who fell under the sway of Frank Buchman, and who travelled with Buchman's flag-waving pseudo-patriotic road shows during the period of 1939 to 1946. Arthur Strong assembled a travelogue of that period.
(Arthur Strong also apparently fell under Buchman's commandment not to serve in the military, because that British citizen stayed in the USA during the war years from 1939 to 1946, while Britain was begging all citizens to come home and help out. In fact, Arthur Strong was one of the British subjects named in the draft-tampering scandal.)
This book is hopeless biased towards Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group/MRA -- it was assembed by a die-hard true believer many decades after Buchman's death, and he actually treated the manuscript as if it were some kind of a holy scripture, to be enshrined in a specially-made wooden box (see the photograph of the box in the beginning of the book) -- but it is still a tremendous wealth of photographs and other historical documents for historians.

Come Wind, Come Weather     Daphne du Maurier
Printed in Great Britain in August 1940.
Printed in USA by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., New York, 1941.
LC: BV4915.D8
A book of short stories of Buchmanites coping with the early part of World War Two in Europe. The authoress displayed the usual grandiose exaggeration of the benefits of Buchman's teachings, along with minimization and denial of its total failure to prevent the war. This is only thinly-veiled Buchmanite propaganda -- page 15 specifically endorsed Moral Re-Armament by name. We can also very clearly see the philosophical roots of Alcoholics Anonymous here. Du Maurier summarized several stories this way:

Megan saw she was a dictator in the home;
George saw that drink and dishonesty were only attempts to escape from his own defeat;
... Anna that misfortune is no excuse for bitterness and self-pity.
Page 74.

In other words,

• Megan needs to join Al-Anon and quit being such a domineering bitch.
• George needs to join A.A..
• Anna also needs to join Al-Anon and quit being so self-pitying and resentful.

Fresh Hope for the World: Moral Re-Armament in Action     Edited and Introduced by Gabriel Marcel; Translated from the French by Helen Hardinge
Longmans, Green And Co. Ltd., London, 1960.
LC: BJ10.M6M33 1960
Another book of propaganda that glories Frank Buchman and MRA. The majority of the book consists of autobiographical stories of being saved from adversity by being converted to belief in Buchmanism. Then the section called "The Universal Man -- Frank Buchman" is a fawning piece of hero worship and glorification of the cult leader, on the level of:

One of the veterans of American Communism said, 'I trained 300 men in Communism, and most of them have left me. What is Frank Buchman's secret, that the men he has trained remain faithful?'
(page 159.)

That stubbornly ignores, of course, the fact that Frank Buchman's cult also had an immense drop-out rate. Once again, the cult members are in denial.

Another quote here.

World Changing Through Life Changing: The Story of Frank Buchman and Moral Re-Armament; A Thesis for the Degree of Master of Sacred Theology at Andover Newton Theological School     T. Willard Hunter
Self-published, 1977.
LC: BJ10.M6H8 1977
This is a strange document. It is a large piece of work, 200 pages, very well researched, and it is a source of obscure information that I've seen nowhere else, but unfortunately the author was a true believer in Buchmanism, and rarely criticized it. The author was a contemporary of Frank Buchman and a devoted Buchmanite. He was also a member of Moral Re-Armament for many years, and spent the war years of WWII touring the country with Buchman's jingoistic shows. He just rhapsodized about Buchman's "great accomplishments" and dismissed or minimized his faults and failings. He even wrote of his own judgement on the subject of Buchman:

The writer's claims to objectivity are slim. He knew and worked with Frank Buchman and became one of his good friends. He gave his entire time -- his life, fortune, and sacred honor -- to this work for eighteen years. A psychologist would say of such a person that it would be difficult for him to avoid seeking to justify himself.
(Page 5.)

See quotes here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. What Is The Oxford Group?     "By the Layman with a Notebook"
Oxford University Press, New York, 1933.
LC: BV4915.W48
Pure Buchmanism. A manual for the religion. Includes chapters on:

• The Oxford Group
• Sin
• Sharing for Confession and Witness
• Surrender
• Restitution
• Guidance
• The Four Absolutes:
  1. Absolute Honesty
  2. Absolute Purity
  3. Absolute Unselfishness
  4. Absolute Love
• The World
• You

John Riffe of the Steelworkers; American Labor Statesman     William Grogan
Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 1959.
LC: HD8073.R5G7
LCCN: 59-15172
This is the story of one of Frank Buchman's token labor leader converts, told by a true-believer member of Moral Re-Armament. Naturally, John Riffe's greatest accomplishment was becoming one of Frank Buchman's followers, and getting numerous labor leaders to go to Caux-sur-Montreaux, Switzerland, or Mackinac Island, Michigan, for Moral Re-Armament ideological training (page 140).

The Oxford Group, Its History and Significance     Walter Houston Clark
Bookman Associates, New York, 1951
Dewey: 248 C614
The author tries to present a fair and objective description of Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group Movement. He does a fair job of it. He really minimized incidents like Buchman's getting kicked out of Princeton, praise for Hitler and the Nazis, appeasement of Hitler, and draft-dodging by Oxford Group members, but still, he gives a pretty good history.

The Fool Hath Said     Beverly Nichols
Country Life Press, Garden City, N.Y., 1935 and 1936.
Dewey: 248 N62
This is a book of Nichols' religious philosophy. It includes a chapter of praise of Buchman's Oxford Groups that Nichols was basically deceived into writing and putting in this book. Nichols' next book, All I Could Never Be, explains how the deception was done.

All I Could Never Be     Beverly Nichols
E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1950.
Dewey: 828 N61a
A book of memoirs. Includes a chapter on his experiences with Buchman's Oxford Groups cult, and also experiences at a Nuremberg Nazi Party rally.

Soul Surgery; Some Thoughts on Incisive Personal Work     Howard Arnold Walter, M.A.
This book was an Oxford Group manual, one that specialized in under-handed and deceptive recruiting techniques and mind games.
This book is now available for free download at: http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp

The Mystery of Moral Re-Armament, A Study of Frank Buchman and His Movement     Tom Driberg
Secker & Warberg, London, 1964.
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1965.
LC: BJ10 .M6D7
LCCN: 64-19084
Dewey number 248.25 D831
This is a great book, one of the most detailed, well-documented, and complete sources of information about Frank Buchman and his religious movement. And it is easy, fascinating reading, written by a fellow who didn't pull his punches when criticizing Buchman. It was written by Tom Driberg, a fellow who was a colorful personality in his own right, starting as a newspaper reporter in London, and then becoming one of the first openly-gay Members of Parliament in history. And on top of that, he joined the Communist Party in Britain in the 1930s, and when he grew disgusted with it and was going to quit, was recruited as an agent by the British secret intelligence service, MI5, to spy on the Communists, which he did until his cover was blown in 1946 and the Communist Party kicked him out. In the early nineteen-sixties, the London publishing house of Secker & Warburg asked Driberg to do a book on Buchman and the MRA, since he had previously reported on them.

Ruling Passions     Tom Driberg
Secker & Warberg, London, 1978
Dewey: B Dr831r
This is the autobiography of Tom Driberg. He was everything from a newspaper reporter to a British Member of Parliament. He wrote the above book about Buchman and MRA.

The Open Secret of MRA; an examination of Mr. Driberg's 'critical examination' of Moral Re-Armament     J. P. Thornton-Duesbery, M.A. (Master of St. Peter's College, Oxford)
Blandford Press, London, 1964.
LC: BJ10 M6D68
This is MRA's answer to Tom Driberg's book on MRA. It sarcastically nit-picks everything in Driberg's book, and denies and tries to explain away every fault of Buchman and MRA.

Frank Buchman, Eighty     "by His Friends"
Blandford Press, London, 1958.
LC: BJ10.M6
LCCN: 59-47674
Dewey: 170 B919
A book of praise of Frank Buchman, put together by his followers for his 80th birthday. Note that Blandford Press was, for all practical purposes, just an in-house Oxford Group/Moral Re-Armament printing press.

Saints Run Mad; A Criticism of the "Oxford" Group Movement     Marjorie Harrison
John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., London, 1934.
LC: BV4915.H37 1934
Dewey: 248 H24
This is an excellent critique of Frank Buchman's cult. Marjorie Harrison was there, and attended many Oxford Group meetings, and even interviewed Frank Buchman for this book. Her stories give a feeling of immediacy and presence that is not found in other histories. She basically rips Buchman and his flawed theology to shreds, and this was before Buchman's notorious praise for Adolf Hitler. There are many quotes from this book in the file "The Religious Roots of the Twelve Steps"
This book is now available for free download at: http://www.morerevealed.com/library.jsp

For Groupers Only; Being a Judgement concerning the Oxford Groups and contained in letters to Duncan Hyde, Undergraduate, sometimes Joyous Pagan and a recent convert at a House-Party     B. C. Plowright, B.A., B.D.
H. R. Allenson, Ltd., 7, Racquet Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4, 1932.
LC: BV4915.P53 1933
An entertaining and interesting set of letters from a critic of the Oxford Groups to a recently-converted student.

Oxford and the Groups     Rev. G. F. Allen, John Maud, Miss B. E. Gwyer, C. R. Morris, W. H. Auden, R. H. S. Crossman, Dr. L. P. Jacks, Rev. E. R. Micklem, Rev. J. W. C. Wand, Rev. M. C. D'Arcy, S.J., Prof. L. W. Grensted; Edited by R. H. S. Crossman
Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1934.
LC: BV4915.C7
This is a great little book; very informative. It consists of essays from both leaders of the Oxford Groups like Rev. G. F. Allen, and criticisms of the Groups from critics like R. H. S. Crossman, and Miss B. E. Gwyer. It gives you a first-hand look at the Groups from several viewpoints, a snap-shot in time of the thinking of contemporaries, before Buchman's public praise of Adolf Hitler. All of the authors were somehow associated with Oxford University in 1934; most were faculty, a few were clergy.

Buchman -- Surgeon of Souls, B.W. Smith, Jr., American Magazine, 122:26-7+, November 1936.
A magazine article about Frank Buchman and his "Oxford Groups".

Drawing Room Conversion; A Sociological Account of the Oxford Group Movement     Allan W. Eister
Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1950.
LC: BV4915 .E35
My over-all impression of this otherwise fine book is that the author pulls his punches. The entire "I thank Heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler" flap is reduced to a footnote in fine print at the bottom of page 187, and is introduced only as a hearsay note, that Reinhold Niebuhr had written, in a Christian Century article, about a newsman (Tom Driberg) writing about an interview with Buchman "in which the latter is reported to have said"... That was the only mention of Hitler or the Nazis that I could find anywhere in the whole book. While the facts given seem generally true and accurate, and even plentiful, I couldn't escape the feeling that a lot of negative (towards Buchman) stuff was left out. The index actually has no entry for Adolf Hitler, Nazism, the Nazi Party, fascism, or even Germany. However, when former President Herbert Hoover spoke briefly and informally at an MRA luncheon, December 10 or 11, 1938, saying that he believed in 'ethics and morality', we learn about that in larger type (pages 48,49). And yes, ex-President Herbert Hoover is listed in the index, with four entries. Hmmm...

Inside Buchmanism: an independent inquiry into the Oxford Group Movement and Moral Re-Armament     Geoffrey Williamson
Philosophical Library, New York, c1954, pubished 1955.
LC: BJ10.M6W5 1955
Excellent. Recommended. Good history. Extensive, fair, even-handed, and sane. The author was right there, doing a first-hand investigation of the Oxford Group -- a.k.a. Moral Re-Armament -- in London, the country Hay's Mews center, and the Caux, Switzerland, center. Obviously, this book only covers up to 1954, but that is the vast majority of the Oxford Groups--MRA period.
      The author gives several revealing glimpses into the cult mind-set, like when, on page 139, he reads from the writings of Benjamin Franklin, to some MRA members, that old Ben had advocated an international moral organization much like MRA, and the MRA members just gave him blank looks, and

"Much to my surprise, there was no great show of interest in this disclosure that a great figure in American history had undoubtedly thought of 'Moral Re-Armament' nearly two hundred years ago. Apparently for them there was no prophet but Frank Buchman! Ben Franklin could go hang."

The Oxford Group Movement: Is it of God or Satan?     J. C. Brown
Produced for the author by Pickering & Inglis, Printers, Glasgow, Scotland, Great Britain, 1933.
LC: BV4915.B72 1933
As the title implies, this book is highly critical of the theology of Frank Buchman.

The Oxford Group Movement     Herbert Hensley Henson, D.D.
Oxford University Press, New York, 1933, 1934.
LC: BV4915 H4
Very interesting. Another critical analysis of the theology of Buchman. This author finds three flaws in Buchmanism:

1. It ignores the demands of the intellect in the high matter of religion. (page 3).
2. The Movement is too closely bound to the moods and claims of Adolescence (page 6).
3. The conception of Christianity which Groupism presents is far too meagre and limited (page 10).

The Oxford Groups     Maisie Ward
Sheed & Ward, London, 1937.
LC: BV4915.W33 1937
Another criticism of the Oxford Groups, coming from the viewpoint of a Catholic. The author notes that: 1) The Buchmanite practice of public confession is at odds with Catholic doctrines, and 2) "Catholicism cannot be reduced to two or three jingles and a couple of anagrams." (Pages 30-33.) Quotes: here and here.

MORAL RE-ARMAMENT and the CATHOLIC LAY APOSTOLATE     Thomas L. Noa, D.D., Bishop of Marquette
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, Indiana, USA, 1961?.
LC: BJ10.M6N6
This is a small pamphlet where Bishop Noa explains that Moral Re-Armament is incompatible with the Roman Catholic faith.
Quote: here.

The Challenge of The Oxford Group Movement; An Attempt At Appraisal     by The Committee Of Thirty
Ryerson Essay number 58
The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1933.
LC: BV4487.O9C49x
A tiny 15-page booklet that is another critical examination of the theology of Buchmanism. Many good points packed into a small space. For instance, (on page 14)

"There is some danger that the Christian conception of prayer as a solemn act of communication between man and God, which calls forth the highest qualities of man's intellectual and moral apprehension, will be degraded to a mere listening to and recording of the vagaries of the subconscious mind."

The Oxford Group Movement: Is It Scriptural?     H. A. Ironside
Loizeaux Brothers, Publishers, 19 West 21st Street, New York, 1943.
LC: WB231 I71
This is a very small volume, just 32 pages, a single sermon by Rev. Ironside, denouncing the Oxford Groups and Buchmanism for being unChristian. Rev. Ironside found that Buchmanism was not a Christian religion, because the entire practice of Buchmanism would still be possible even if Jesus Christ had never been born.
See the full text here

Courage to Change, An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr     June Bingham
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1961.
LCCN: 61-13362
Dewey: B N665b
This is a good biography of Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian and minister, who currently has a modicum of fame from authoring The Serenity Prayer.

Hitler and Buchman     Reinhold Niebuhr
The Christian Century magazine, October 7, 1936, pages 1315-1316.
This is Reinhold Niebuhr's classic answer to Frank Buchman's "I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler" remarks.

Christianity and Power Politics     Reinhold Niebuhr
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1940.
LC: BR115.P7N55
Reinhold Niebuhr was one of the leading theologians of the early 20th century, and is famed for being the author of the Serenity Prayer. This book contains the chapter "Hitler and Buchman" [full text here], which appears to be a reprint of an article first published in the Christian Century magazine. It is a no-holds-barred attack on Buchman and his goofy theology.

Moral Re-Armament: A study of the movement; Prepared by the Social and Industrial Council of the Church Assembly, C.A.1129     Church of England, National Assembly, Social and Industrial Council
Church Information Board of the Church Assembly, Church House, Westminster, S.W.1, 1955.
Dewey: 170 M828c
A very small (49 pages) study of MRA, from the official Church of England viewpoint.
Quotes:

"No one could say that the movement is over modest, and some of the statements might lead one to think that love and unselfishness were the discovery of M.R.A., and that M.R.A. had a monopoly of these high ideals. But that is typical of their writing."
Page 34.

"[MRA] assumes that amelioration of the social order is the direct and automatic consequence of the interior personal 'change', that is of 'love'. It simply is not so."
Page 35.

Wide Is The Gate     Upton Sinclair
The Viking Press, New York, 1943.
Upton Sinclair wrote a series of historical novels that spanned the 1930s in Europe and the USA. This one, placed in the middle 1930s, describes the rise of Nazism in Europe. It also mentions in passing Frank Buchman's Oxford Group in England and Germany, and describes their occult practices and sympathy for the Nazis. Quotes here and here.

The Serenity Prayer; Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War     Elisabeth Sifton
W. W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 2003.
ISBN: 0-393-05746-1
LC: BV284.S47S54 2003
Dewey: 242.4--dc22 or 242.4 S573s 2003
This is a great biography of Reinhold Niebuhr, the author of the The Serenity Prayer, written by his daughter. Niebuhr was one of the leading theologians of the early 20th century, and a teacher at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Quotes here.

They Have Found A Faith     Marcus Bach
The Bobs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, New York, 1946.
Dewey: 289 B12
This book describes eight different non-mainstream religions or cults, of which The Oxford Group/Moral Re-Armament is one. The chapter on MRA is quite good, quite revealing and descriptive, written by a first-hand witness who knew his religions. Among other things, the author reveals that Frank Buchman stole his best ideas from Henry B. Wright of Yale University, who got them from Robert E. Speer, who got them from Henry Drummond... (page 146). The author clearly sees that the Oxford Group is a cult religion, and he does a good job of describing the cultish behavior that he sees. Recommended.

These Also Believe: a study of modern American cults & minority religious movements     Charles Samuel Braden, Ph.D.
The MacMillan Company, New York, 1949.
Covers 13 new religions, including Theosophy, Spiritualism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Oxford Group Movement. The chapter on the Oxford Group / MRA is factual and accurate, and neutral in tone.

The Psychology of Social Movements     Hadley Cantril
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1941.
Chapman & Hall, London, 1941.
LC: HM291.C3
This is quite good. Analyzes who joins a mass religious movement, or cult, and why. All of chapter 6 is about the Oxford Group. Later chapters are about the Nazis.

Fellow Travelers of the Right; British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany 1933-9     Richard Griffiths
Oxford University Press, Oxford, c1980, 1983.
ISBN: 0-19-285116-0
Dewey: 335.60943
LC: DD256.5
An interesting book. Covers both the major and minor players. Quote here.

Unheard Witness     Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl
J.B. Lippencott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1957.
Dewey: 943.085 H23u
LCCN: 57-11953
This is a great read, the fascinating inside story of the rise of an uncouth country bumpkin named Adolf Hitler to the leadership of his nation... What makes it unusual is that it is an insider's story that was written by someone who was relatively sane, and there weren't very many of them in the inner circle of Nazis and sycophants around Adolf. In the end, Putzi had to flee to the USA to escape from the wrath of Hitler and the Gestapo, for saying true and sensible things just too many times... (Or at least, that's the way Putzi tells his story...)

Hitler's Piano Player     Peter Conradi
Carroll and Graf Publishers, New York, 2004.
ISBN: 0-7867-1283-X
Dewey: B Ha1936c 2004
Really good. Thorough, well-researched, and very interesting. This is another view of Putzi Hanfstaengl, early friend of Adolf Hitler. It feels like it is written in a more neutral, factual tone than Putzi's autobiography. (Well of course...)

These Germans; an estimate of their character seen in flashes from the drama 1918-1939     John Heygate
Hutchinson & Co., Publishers, Ltd., London. Printed by William Brendon & Son, Ltd., The Mayflower Press, Plymouth, Great Britain, 1940.
LC: DD76
LCCN: 40-31586
Dewey: 914.3
This book is a travelogue about Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It includes a chapter about the 1935 Nuremberg Nazi Party rally, where John Heygate met the Mitford sisters and Frank Buchman.
Reference here and quote here.

Goodbye West Country     Henry Williamson
Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1938.
LC: PR6045.I55Z53 1938
This is an interesting book of memoirs that is mostly nature writing, but he also gives us an account of his experiences in Germany at the 1935 Nuremberg Nazi Party rally, where he saw Dr. Frank Buchman, here.

The Rise and Rall of the Third Reich; A History of Nazi Germany     William L. Shirer
Simon & Schuster Inc., New York, London, etc., c. 1959, 1960, pub. 1990.
ISBN: 0-671-72892-X (slipcased) ; ISBN: 0-671-72869-5 (hardcover) ; ISBN: 0-671-72868-7 (pbk)
LC: DD256.5.S48 1981
LCCN: 81-1072
Dewey: 943.006
This is the classic. What can I say? (Other than, "Also see Bill Shirer's Berlin Diaries -- both the book and the movie.")

Hitler; 1889-1936 Hubris     Ian Kershaw
W. W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 1998.
ISBN: 0-393-32035-9 (pbk.)
LC: DD247.H5K462 1999
Dewey: 943.086092--dc21
LCCN: 98-29569
Another impressive biography of Hitler.

Hitler & Geli     Ronald Hayman
Bloomsbury Publishing, New York and London, 1997.
ISBN: 1-58234-008-0
Dewey: B H676hy 1998
Good, fascinating, and chilling. Geli Raubal was both Hitler's half-neice and his only true girlfriend and lover, She was found dead in Hitler's apartment in 1931, allegedly a suicide at the early age of 23. The descriptions of Hitler's sex life reveal an abused child who grew into a really sick sado-masochistic narcissist. The author presents a lot of evidence that supports the distinct possibility that Geli was murdered by the Nazis to keep her from disgracing Adolf Hitler and prematurely ending his political career.

Erik Jan Hanussen; Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant     Mel Gordon
Feral House, Los Angeles, CA, 2001.
ISBN: 0-922915-68-7
Dewey: 133.8092 H251g 2001
A very interesting biography of an amusing fraud, or a successful showman and entertainer, depending on your viewpoint. He made quite a career of putting on faked psychic acts, and got a fair bit of success and wealth. Unfortunately, that included having some high-ranking Nazis owing him a lot of money, and attracting Adolf Hitler as a believer. Some of the Gestapo found killing Hanussen to be the easiest solution to the problems that Hanussen created for them, so they did.

The Man with the Miraculous Hands; The Fantastic Story of Felix Kersten, Himmler's Private Doctor     Joseph Kessel
Burford Books, Short Hills, N.J., 2004.
ISBN: 1-58080-122-6
LC: Dewey: B Ke47k 2004
A fascinating book, very well-written. It moves you right into Heinrich Himmler's life. Heinrich Himmler suffered from stomach pains and digestive problems that no doctor could cure, but the alternate-medicine specialist, masseuse, and unconventional healer Felix Kersten was able to relieve Himmler's extreme pain, so Himmler latched onto Kersten with the tenacity of a pit bull, and Kersten spent World War II as a practical prisoner and slave of Himmler.
      -- Which actually had great benefits, because Kersten saved a lot of lives by using his position in Himmler's household and his emotional leverage over Himmler to the advantage of thousands of otherwise-doomed Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Dutch underground operatives, and other persecuted people. Kersten managed to get special powers, privileges, and protection from Himmler because he could treat Himmler's chronic pain like no one else could. And Kersten used that power wisely and compassionately.
      Kersten literally saved thousands of lives -- in one case, a whole trainload of Jews. Kersten had extracted from Himmler a promise to spare two or three thousand Jews, just as a favor to him, so Himmler said something like, "Well, okay. I have this train with 2700 Jews going to Auschwitz. That's between 2 and 3 thousand. I'll reroute it to Switzerland. That will get Kersten off of my back."
      The Jews who were on the train got off expecting to be in Auschwitz, getting kicked and beaten by SS guards; instead, they found the SS troops standing at attention as the Jews staggered across the border into Switzerland and into the arms of waiting Red Cross workers.
      Kersten was amazingly bold and courageous, and took terrible risks to help friends and allies, including acting as a courier carrying secret documents between resistance and underground units. He would literally walk right through the Gestapo carrying such incriminating evidence. It's quite a spy story too.
      At the end of the war, as Germany was collapsing, Kersten took a representative of the World Jewish Congress into Germany to extract a promise from Himmler that the concentration camps would not be blown up with dynamite, killing all of the Jews inside. That promise was mostly kept.

A Rumor About The Jews; Reflections on Antisemitism and the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion     Stephen Eric Bronner.
St. Martin's Press, New York, 2000.
ISBN: 0-312-21804-4
Dewey: 305.8924 B869r 2000
LC: DS145.P7B76 2000
LCCN: 99-42576
The story of the vicious anti-semitic forgery called "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion". See story here.

A Doomsday Reader; Prophets, Predictors, and Hucksters of Salvation     editted by Ted Daniels
New York University Press, New York and London, 1999.
ISBN: 0-8147-1908-2 (alk. paper); 0-8147-1909-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
LC: HM866.D66 1999
LCCN: 99-6337
Dewey: 301 D691 1999
Includes a chapter on the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", pages 99-107.

The International Jew, The World's Foremost Problem     Henry Ford Sr.
A 1958 reprint of the articles "Appearing originally in the periodical published by the Ford Motor Co. 'The Dearborn Independent.'"
"Abridged from the original as published by the world renowned industrial leader Henry Ford Sr."
Copy prepared for the printer by Gerald K. Smith,
National Director, Christian Nationalist Crusade,
Post Office Box 27895, Los Angeles 27, California
LC: DS141.I582
This is the hateful anti-Semitic diatribe that the neo-Nazis love, described here. It is so extreme that it leads one to question the sanity of Henry Ford Sr.. Some of the chapters are so outrageous that they are funny:

• Jewish Jazz becomes Our National Music
  Yes, everybody knows how the Jews all moved out of New York City and went to New Orleans and took over Basin Street...
• Liquor, Gambling, Vice, and Corruption.
  Ford says that Jews control all of the mobs. Silly me, I thought that Alfonso Caponé was an Italian name, but what do I know?

Jewish Influences in America; volume 3 of The International Jew     Henry Ford Sr.
The Dearborn Publishing Co., Dearborn, Mich. November, 1921.
LC: DS145.D5A32 vol 3.
This is the third volume of selections of Ford's anti-semitic articles that appeared in The Dearborn Independent. Some of this material also appears in the above condensation of Ford's articles. The subjects of these chapters are similarly insane:

• Are the Jews Victims or Persecutors?
• Jewish Gamblers Corrupt American Baseball
• Jewish Degredation of American Baseball [Henry Ford was very upset about "the commercialization of baseball". Some star baseball players were beginning to receive what Ford considered to be very large salaries ($125,000 for Babe Ruth's contract was mentioned), and Ford blamed the Jews for all of it. It is funny that the fabulously wealthy multi-millionaire Ford felt that Babe Ruth should work for peanuts, but that he, Henry Ford, should not.]
• Jewish Jazz Becomes Our National Music
• How the Jewish Song Trust Makes You Sing
• Jewish Hot-Beds of Bolshevism in the U.S.
• Jew Trades Link With World Revolutionaries
• Will Jewish Zionism Bring Armageddon?
• How the Jews Use Power -- By an Eyewitness
• How Jews Ruled and Ruined Tammany Hall
• Jew Wires Direct Tammany's Gentile Puppets
• Dr. Levy, a Jew, Admits His People's Error
• Jewish Idea Molded Federal Reserve Plan
• Jewish Idea of Central Bank for America
• How Jewish International Finance Functions
• Jewish Power and America's Money Famine

'Why the tendency of the Jew to the "needle trades"? It is explained in his aversion to manual labor, his abhorrence of agricultural life, and his desire to arrange his own affairs.'
(Page 91, Jewish Hot-Beds of Bolshevism in the U.S.)
...the "needle trades" being exclusively Jewish, all their abuses are Jewish too. ... Bolshevism is not Russian but Jewish...
(Page 92, Jewish Hot-Beds of Bolshevism in the U.S.)

But in other chapters, Ford says that the Jews are controlling international banking and finance, not the garment industry. And I never noticed Henry Ford taking to the agricultural life either, out plowing the south forty behind his mule. And Ford sure insisted on arranging his own affairs.
      Why did a man of such wealth and power spend so much time, money, and ene