WE,OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are many thou-
sands of men and women who have recovered
from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To
show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered
is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope
these pages will prove so convincing that no further
authentication will be necessary. We think this ac-
count of our experiences will help everyone to better
understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend
that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides,
we are sure that our way of living has its advantages
for all.
It is important that we remain anonymous in order
to more effectively handle the overwhelming number
of personal appeals which may result from this publi-
cation. Being mostly business or professional folk,
some of us could not carry on our occupations if
we were known as alcoholics. We would like it under-
stood that our alcoholic work is an avocation.
When writing or speaking publicly about alcohol-
ism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit his
personal name,designating himself instead as "A
Member of Alcoholics Anonymous."
Very earnestly we ask the press also, to observe this
request, for otherwise we shall be greatly handi-
capped. We are not an organization in the conventional xiii