Story Archive: On the Alcoholism Front

In the early days of AA, alcoholics and their families embraced the foundling Fellowship and celebrated its simple and effective method of "one alcoholic talking to another." But early AAs also recognized the importance of being friendly with our friends. As stated in the Foreword to the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, "another reason for the wide acceptance of AA was the ministration of friends -- friends in medicine, religion, and the press, together with innumerable others who became our able and persistent advocates. Without such support, AA could have made only the slowest progress." Some of the recommendations of AA's early medical and religious friends are found in The Doctor's Opinion and the Appendices in the Big Book.