BILL'S STORY
Before AA, Bill W. served in this war, where he had his first taste of what he later called "the elixir of life."
What is World War I?
This physician, who treated many alcoholics at Towns Hospital in New York, wrote the Doctor's Opinion.
Who is Dr. William D. Silkworth?
This chapter is written directly for readers who doubt or reject the idea of God.
What is "We Agnostics"
Read aloud at the start of most AA meetings, this chapter contains the Twelve Steps.
What is "How It Works"?
In this year, the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" was first published.
What is 1939?
This old drinking friend of Bill's showed up sober one day and told him about a movement that had helped him get free of alcohol.
Who is Ebby Thacher?
Silkworth described the alcoholic's body as reacting to alcohol the way a person reacts to this kind of physical sensitivity.
What is an allergy?
Rather than adopting someone else's beliefs, the chapter invites the skeptical reader to form their own conception of this.
What is a Power greater than themselves?
The chapter opens with a famous line about people who have "thoroughly followed" this.
What is our path
Bill W. and Dr. Bob are recognized as the two of these to Alcoholics Anonymous.
What are co-founders?
The movement Ebby introduced Bill to — built on confession, restitution, and surrender to God — was called this.
What is the Oxford Group?
Alongside the physical allergy, Silkworth said the alcoholic's mind suffers from a fixed, recurring preoccupation with drinking — he called this an...
What is an obsession?
The chapter argues that everyone already worships something bigger than themselves — even if they'd never call it this.
What is God (a Higher Power)?
The chapter names three things alcoholics come to admit: that we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives; that probably no human power could relieve our alcoholism; and this third idea.
What is "God could and would if He were sought"?
The stories in the back of the book make up the majority of its pages — this is the general name for that section.
What is "Personal Stories"?
At Towns Hospital in December 1934, Bill had a sudden spiritual experience often described as a flash of white light, followed by a feeling of this.
What is freedom (a sense of release and victory)?
This famous phrase from the chapter names the overpowering urge that seizes a real alcoholic after just one drink.
What is "the phenomenon of craving"?
The chapter suggests that as soon as a person can honestly admit this one small possibility about a Higher Power, their whole attitude begins to change.
What is willingness to believe / "there is a Power greater than myself"?
The chapter describes people driven by "a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity" — a section facilitators often nickname this.
What are "the bedevilments"?
This chapter is written specifically to the spouses and partners of alcoholics.
What is "To Wives"?
In 1935, in Akron, Ohio, Bill met a struggling alcoholic surgeon — their meeting is considered the founding moment of AA.
Who is Dr. Bob Smith (Dr. Bob)?
Silkworth's letter lent early medical credibility to Bill's claim that alcoholism could be arrested through this kind of experience.
What is a spiritual experience / spiritual awakening?
The chapter's central message is that faith, once found, can't stay theoretical — it has to be put into this.
What is action?
The chapter states that the root of most of our troubles is a kind of self-centeredness it calls this.
What is "self-will run riot"?
As of the most recent edition, published in 2001, this many total editions of the Big Book have been released.
What is four?