THIS IS the second edition of the book, "Alcoholics
Anonymous," which made its first appearance in
April, 1939. More than 300,000 copies of the first
edition are now in circulation.
Because this book has become the basic text for our
society and has helped such large numbers of alcoholic
men and women to recovery, there exists a sentiment
against any radical changes being made in it. There-
fore the first portion of this volume, describing the
A.A. recovery program,has been left largely un-
touched.
But the personal history section has been consider-
ably revised and enlarged in order to present a more
accurate representation of our membership as it is
today. When the book was first printed, we had
scarcely 100 members all told, and every one of them
was an almost hopeless case of alcoholism. This has
changed. A.A. now helps alcoholics in all stages of
the disease. It reaches into every level of life and
into nearly all occupations. Our membership now
includes many young people. Women, who were at
first very reluctant to approach A.A., have come for-
ward in large numbers.Therefore the range of the
story section has been broadened so that every alco-
holic reader may find a reflection of him or herself
in it.
As a souvenir of our past, the original Foreword has
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