Page 12 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

FOREWORD TO FOURTH EDITION

THIS fourth edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” came off
press in November 2001, at the start of a new millennium.
Since the third edition was published in 1976, worldwide
membership of A.A. has just about doubled, to an
estimated two million or more, with nearly 100,800 groups
meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world.

Literature has played a major role in A.A.’s growth, and a
striking phenomenon of the past quarter-century has been
the explosion of translations of our basic literature into
many languages and dialects. In country after country
where the A.A. seed was planted, it has taken root, slowly
at first, then growing by leaps and bounds when literature
has become available. Currently, “Alcoholics Anonymous”
has been translated into forty-three languages.

As the message of recovery has reached larger numbers of
people, it has also touched the lives of a vastly greater
variety of suffering alcoholics. When the phrase “We are
people who normally would not mix” (page 17 of this book)
was written in 1939, it referred to a Fellowship composed
largely of men (and a few women) with quite similar social,
ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Like so much of A.A.’s
basic text, those words have proved to be far more visionary
than the founding members could ever have imagined. The
stories added to this edition represent a membership whose
characteristics—of age, gender, race, and culture—have
widened and have deepened to encompass virtually
everyone the first 100 members could have hoped to reach.

While our literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A.
message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are
reflected in new customs and practices within the
Fellowship. Taking advantage of technological advances,
for example, A.A. members with computers can participate