Back to Basics: The Alcoholics Anonymous Beginners' Meetings: "Here Are the Steps We Took--" in Four One-Hour Sessions

TLDR; get, and read the Big Book, with a sponsor, get a home group, and work the (real) steps. In this book, I was disturbed to find this misrepresentation of this life-saving program, presented as a *more authentic representation* of the practice of AA in its earliest days. The author claims validity to this interpretation of the steps by claiming (1) he is an AA historian (2) he has a sponsorship relationship/geneology back to Dr. Bob Smith (alert: see 12th tradition) (3) a citation of the low success rate of recovery as detailed in the Big Book of AA, and (4) relatively long-term sobriety. His proposed solution is to strip the steps and the original text of its references to personal powerlessness and a power greater than oneself. Unfortunately his target audience for this book, presumably individuals new to recovery who resist the spiritual aspect of the program, are not in a position to correct the author/speaker on fine points of early AA history. But I can. Personal powerlessness, or ego deflation at depth, is at the core to twelve step recovery. The first step literally begins "we admitted that we were powerless." The second step describes the relationship to a higher power that can restore me to sanity. They open the door to the development of humility, and explicitly not increased reliance upon self. Carl Jung in correspondence with Bill Wilson, his practice with alcoholics, and his own body of work advances this concept. It is *fundamentally dishonest* to suggest that personal powerlessness and reliance on a power outside of oneself are not essential to Twelve Step Recovery. Interestingly the early-days one-day-trip through the steps is described in the Big Book by someone who did it -- it's on page 262-263 in the story He Sold Himself Short. Be forewarned the concepts of "complete deflation" and "dependence on a higher power" are front and center. The authors of the Big Book actually anticipated the exact audience whom the "Back to Basics" authors claim to reach. An entire chapter of the Big Book, entitled "We Agnostics," offers a way forward for these individuals. This review is not meant to impugn the Author's motives, which are reasonable (if naive). My understanding of his interpretation is that he is "lowering the bar" to permit individuals with resistance to the notion of higher power some access to recovery. However, there are core messages in twelve step recovery that *tell us that this will fail*: "half measures availed us nothing," "the result was nil until we let go absolutely," and "The alcoholic is without effective mental defense against the first drink...That defense must come from a higher power." These are among the most assertive statements in the book. I simply cannot reconcile them with this book's message, that, once again, the author underpins by suggesting some sort of primal knowledge of AA to which he is privy by his sponsorship line and his research. (Note to the author: talk to your sponsor about the twelfth tradition, the spiritual concept of anonymity.) The Author must consider reframing this work as an interpretation of twelve step recovery that it is, and not, mind-bogglingly, a more authentic interpretation of AA than the AA basic text itself, billed as "Back to Basics." I cannot stress enough that the "Basics" are the exact principles omitted from this book. I write from a place of concert, not judgement. I am a recovered alcoholic because I took the steps exactly as originally written without amendment. They were effective because I was "desperate as only the dying can be." This is the condition that is required to experience recovery -- not a wholesale reinterpretation of the steps only selectively supported by the literature, in what this author terms "appropriate" passages. (Note: A "plain english" version of the Big Book is in development by Alcoholics Anonymous itself; this version may improve the accessibility of the program to some audiences.)

This book can save your life if you apply it to your daily way of life. Best tool I've found to use when sponsoring people.

In the NE and NW areas of Houston, we now have seven AA groups offering the "Back-to-Basics" approach to allow those alcoholics who come our way to get their needed miracle promptly, the way Dr. Bob did it with Earl T. (as described on page 292 of the Big Book). From mid-April through August of '98, we have worked the steps with over 300 people. They are now using the book in service to other alcoholics who need so desperately the message of real Alcoholics Anonymous. This book is a tremendous supplement that allows any alcoholic to use our basic text, the Big Book, in the "keep it simple" way that Dr. Bob begged us to.

I read Wally's book, knowing that in Houston we are giving out 20000+ desire chips annually but less than 2000 one-yr. chips annually. I have seen in our large group on the north side that fewer than 1 in 10 are making it a yr. Knowing that our founders had a 75-93% success rate, I determined to seek a solution to the problem with Pop AA. I found the problem to be that the message around the tables is no longer the message in the Big Book. Since reading the book, we have cancelled all discussion meetings since Real AA never had them anyway, and we offer Beginners' and Refresher Classes now. In the last month, three of us have taken over 40 people through all 12 steps. Last week, we had 2 guys who had been drinking a month before doing fifth steps with newcomers! Amazing. THIS is Real AA. Over 200 groups in the US are now offering these classes. Some have been at it a year, and they have over 90% still sober.I invite anyone who can see the numbers of people suffering in Pop AA, not getting the real message, to read this book and try using it, one-on-one or in a group. Your group or club will benefit greatly, too, for you will be getting $1in the basket from 7-9 out of ten instead of 1 out of 10. That'll keep the lights on, and give us more opportunity to carry this message.God bless your reading and use of this book.Floyd H. Spring, TX

Just finished reading;using the book for the purpose the author intended. It is a manuel that is direct and to the point. The experience the author brings to the subject is refreshing.Thanks for the authors' dedication to a most rewarding solution.

The original AA beginners instructional classes began in the early 1940's in Cleveland, Ohio and spread throughout the United States. Today, many in AA think that one has to go through the Steps, one Step a year. Wally P. in this book, shows how the early members got their instruction on how to get well and continue on with their lives in recovery. Though not a replacement for the AA program, these classes are an adjunct for both the newcomer and long-term AA member alike. If one wants to see how early AA worked, and worked quite well at that, Wally's book is a must read. If anyone in the treatment field wants to increase their success rate, these classes should be incorporated into their program as well.