The essential lesson that infuses A.A.: it is the power of one alcoholic talking to another alcoholic about the consequences, but particularly the feelings, engendered by this hopeless illness that can lead to lifelong sobriety.

Cover of Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.

The essential lesson that infuses A.A.: it is the power of one alcoholic talking to another alcoholic about the consequences, but particularly the feelings, engendered by this hopeless illness that can lead to lifelong sobriety.

From that day forward, several facts about alcoholism became manifest.  Alcoholism was an illness.  Alcoholism crushed its victims by making them feel hopeless. There was no “cure” but there was a “spiritual solution,” centered on alcoholics helping each other to refrain from drinking.  These positive experiences led to the publication in 1939 of Alcoholics Anonymous, containing A.A.’s program of recovery, the Twelve Steps, a version of Ebby’s “neat little formula,” and the shared experiences described in the stories of recovering alcoholics that make up the majority of the book.

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