Page 5 - F-166 - A Brief History of the Big Book - Una breve historia del Libro Grande - L'histoire du Gros Livre en bref

newspaperman with two years of sobriety, named Jim.
He and Dr. Bob “went after all the Akronites who had

substantial sobriety records for testimonial material. In
most cases Jim interviewed the prospects and wrote
their stories for them. Dr. Bob wrote his own.” By Jan-

uary, the Akron Group had come up with 18 stories.
In New York, where there was no one with writing

expertise, they decided that each member with sub-
stantial sobriety would write his own story. When Bill
and a fellow member turned to edit these “amateur at-

tempts,” there were objections. “Who were we, said the
writers, to edit their stories? That was a good question,
but still we did edit them. The cries of the anguished

edited taletellers fi nally subsided and the story section
of the book was complete in the latter part of January
1939. So, at last, was the text.”

The book still lacked a title. “The Akron and New
York groups had been voting for months on possible

titles. This had become an after-the-meeting form of
amusement and interest. The title ‘Alcoholics Anony-
mous’ had appeared very early in the discussion…. We

do not know who fi rst used these words. After we New

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