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A review by jedbird
Alcoholics Anonymous by Alcoholics Anonymous
3.0
1* for the book, 5* for what the program can do for people = 3*
First, and most importantly, the program and fellowship around this book absolutely do work for huge numbers of alcoholics seeking help.
I am not an alcoholic, but my partner B is. I've known him over 30 years, and he'd already been sober 2 years when we met. I've been around the teachings and lore all this time, but I'd never read the book, and B asked if I would read it just to understand where he was coming from. Of course I agreed. However, it was NOT what I expected at all.
In the past, I'd been to meetings full of PNW punk rockers who were definitely not religious, and they were all helped by the program and fellowship. I only ever heard talk of a Higher Power (not God), usually defined in dismissive or joking terms. The people I've known have been willing to help each other, and to reach out to new people, in what always seemed to be a very secular, humanist fashion.
My expectations of the text were based on the people I've known and the meetings I've attended. I read the meat of the book--about the first 30%--as well as a few of the individual stories. I was very, very surprised (horrified?) to find that the book is unaltered from 1939, and addresses the concerns of no one other than a white, white-collar, straight, Christian, alcoholic male living a pre-WWII life. I was surprised that, despite a couple mentions of a Higher Power, the only language used is definitely Christian and smug as hell. I was surprised that there is really nothing for women at all.
B tells me people are resistant to updating the book or making it more inclusive for various reasons, but to me it makes the program seem less welcoming to any and all, when there's just nothing for most people. Nothing for women, nothing for PoC, nothing for LGBTQ, nothing for non-white-collar workers, and honestly, really, nothing for non-Christians. I've asked B to try to find out if there is other program literature that addresses the concerns of any population besides white 1930s Christian businessmen.
I was also kind of amazed at the differences between 1939 and 2018 in terms of medical privacy. This book is full of tales of getting drunks' names from their doctors and ambushing them in their hospital beds and...really? You don't want to edit out these blatant HIPAA violations? Or at least footnote them? There are a lot of words here devoted to intruding into people's lives on every front in a manner you simply can't undertake anymore, if you ever could, and I'm sure most modern readers realize that, but it makes this text seem very antiquated.
I was shocked at how much I disliked this book. I felt it was exclusionary, offensive, smug, patronizing, paternalistic...like, yeah, I didn't like it at all. I had a very different preconceived notion about the book based on the group of alcoholics I knew best, and I am frankly amazed that B and his friends were able to maintain sobriety with this text, or perhaps in spite of this text.
But this book isn't for me. I'm not an alcoholic. I have my own problems, but alcohol isn't one of them. It seems possible though that this is how some alcoholics need to be talked to, and maybe it doesn't matter if I get all huffy and find it offensive because it isn't about me anyway.
The meetings, and the fellowship, and, yes, the text, saved the life of the person I love best, so I'm grateful to the program for that. Personally, I think it's the support of other alcoholics that is most helpful, but if other people want to think it's a Christian God, I really don't have room to say anything about it.
What I've definitely heard over the years is that people should take from the text what they find useful--and that's it. So you might take two sentences out of the entire book, but it's something you can *use* and you hold onto that.
First, and most importantly, the program and fellowship around this book absolutely do work for huge numbers of alcoholics seeking help.
I am not an alcoholic, but my partner B is. I've known him over 30 years, and he'd already been sober 2 years when we met. I've been around the teachings and lore all this time, but I'd never read the book, and B asked if I would read it just to understand where he was coming from. Of course I agreed. However, it was NOT what I expected at all.
In the past, I'd been to meetings full of PNW punk rockers who were definitely not religious, and they were all helped by the program and fellowship. I only ever heard talk of a Higher Power (not God), usually defined in dismissive or joking terms. The people I've known have been willing to help each other, and to reach out to new people, in what always seemed to be a very secular, humanist fashion.
My expectations of the text were based on the people I've known and the meetings I've attended. I read the meat of the book--about the first 30%--as well as a few of the individual stories. I was very, very surprised (horrified?) to find that the book is unaltered from 1939, and addresses the concerns of no one other than a white, white-collar, straight, Christian, alcoholic male living a pre-WWII life. I was surprised that, despite a couple mentions of a Higher Power, the only language used is definitely Christian and smug as hell. I was surprised that there is really nothing for women at all.
B tells me people are resistant to updating the book or making it more inclusive for various reasons, but to me it makes the program seem less welcoming to any and all, when there's just nothing for most people. Nothing for women, nothing for PoC, nothing for LGBTQ, nothing for non-white-collar workers, and honestly, really, nothing for non-Christians. I've asked B to try to find out if there is other program literature that addresses the concerns of any population besides white 1930s Christian businessmen.
I was also kind of amazed at the differences between 1939 and 2018 in terms of medical privacy. This book is full of tales of getting drunks' names from their doctors and ambushing them in their hospital beds and...really? You don't want to edit out these blatant HIPAA violations? Or at least footnote them? There are a lot of words here devoted to intruding into people's lives on every front in a manner you simply can't undertake anymore, if you ever could, and I'm sure most modern readers realize that, but it makes this text seem very antiquated.
I was shocked at how much I disliked this book. I felt it was exclusionary, offensive, smug, patronizing, paternalistic...like, yeah, I didn't like it at all. I had a very different preconceived notion about the book based on the group of alcoholics I knew best, and I am frankly amazed that B and his friends were able to maintain sobriety with this text, or perhaps in spite of this text.
But this book isn't for me. I'm not an alcoholic. I have my own problems, but alcohol isn't one of them. It seems possible though that this is how some alcoholics need to be talked to, and maybe it doesn't matter if I get all huffy and find it offensive because it isn't about me anyway.
The meetings, and the fellowship, and, yes, the text, saved the life of the person I love best, so I'm grateful to the program for that. Personally, I think it's the support of other alcoholics that is most helpful, but if other people want to think it's a Christian God, I really don't have room to say anything about it.
What I've definitely heard over the years is that people should take from the text what they find useful--and that's it. So you might take two sentences out of the entire book, but it's something you can *use* and you hold onto that.