Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson [Hardcover]

Francis Hartigan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312200560 | ISBN-13: 978-0312200565 | Publication Date: March 16, 2000 | Edition: 1st

When Bill Wilson, with his friend Dr. Bob Smith, founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, his hope was that AA would become a safe haven for those who suffered from this disease. Thirty years after his death, AA continues to help millions of alcoholics recover from what had been commonly regarded as a hopeless addiction. Still, while Wilson was a visionary for millions, he was no saint. After cofounding Alcoholics Anonymous, he stayed sober for over thirty-five years, helping countless thousands rebuild their lives. But at the same time, Wilson suffered form debilitating bouts of clinical depression, was a womanizer, and experimented with LSD.

Francis Hartigan, the former secretary and confidant to Wilson's wife, Lois, has exhaustively researched his subject, writing with a complete insider's knowledge. Drawing on extensive interviews with Lois Wilson and scores of early members of AA, he fully explores Wilson's organizational genius, his devotion to the cause, and almost martyr-like selflessness. That Wilson, like all of us, had to struggle with his own personal demons makes this biography all the more moving and inspirational. Hartigan reveals the story of Wilson's life to be as humorous, horrific, and powerful as any of the AA vignettes told daily around the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bill Wilson (1895-1971), the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, never saw himself as a saint. In a biography that is admiring without being hagiographic, first-time author Hartigan, one-time assistant to Bill's wife, Lois, reveals a man whose accomplishments seem all the more extraordinary because his demons were so strong. A depressive, a chronic womanizer, a man who could not quit smoking even as he choked to death from emphysema, Wilson was, according to Hartigan, motivated by real spiritual sincerity and purity of purpose when it came to AA. At 39, on the edge of death from alcoholism, Wilson was "struck sober" in an incandescent moment when he felt surrounded by divine presence. Inspired by the Oxford Group, a Christian movement that sought to kindle such experiences, the famous 12 steps that Wilson developed led to gradual spiritual transformation. This approach was built not on white light but on Wilson's bone-deep sense that life without a higher power was unmanageable. Wilson was born in a small town in Vermont to parents who divorced and scattered, leaving the boy to be raised by loving grandparents who could not assuage the permanent wound to Wilson's self-esteem. After the death of his high school girlfriend, the handsome, talented Wilson fell into an almost catatonic despair, a foreshadowing of the depression and self-doubt that would descend on him even at the height of his fame. Frank about Wilson's experiments with LSD, religion and psychotherapy, this unofficial bio will do much to help a wide readership appreciate how Wilson exemplified the way in which weakness can lead us to exhibit extraordinary strength. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This intensely personal biography of Bill Wilson and the worldwide organization he cofounded looks at the man and the movement from the inside out. Hartigan, former secretary to Wilson's wife, Lois, used interviews with people close to Wilson to write this first full-dress treatment of him. Wilson's great insight was recognizing that alcohol was an illness that no one can conquer alone. Yet he lived a lonely life and has remained an elusive figure--until now. Hartigan repeats the well-known tale of Wilson's slide from successful stock analyst to drunken despair and his resurrection after cofounding AA. But he also paints a picture of a conflicted Wilson, at once arrogant and insecure, loyal to his friends yet unfaithful to his wife, sober but depressed. Despite a popular-magazine style, this book makes a long stride toward understanding the appeal of Wilson and AA's 12-step program. Recommended.
-Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (March 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312200560
• ISBN-13: 978-0312200565
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,231,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsanitized version, March 28, 2000

By 

Mitchell R. Klein "mitchellk" (NYS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson (Hardcover)

Having read all of the "authorized" and "official" biographies of Bill W. I find this one refreshing in its candor and revealing an unsanitized report of the truth. Though Bill was one of the co-founders of AA, most reports of his story left out the human part of him and helped in continuing the myths.

Mr. Hartigan did an excellent job in researching through the original documents and relying upon the oral history of who Bill really was. Having known Lois and doing my own research through original documents, I have found the sanitized versions of AA history quite lacking through obfuscation of accurate historical facts.

Negative reviews coming from those who prefer the sainthood of Bill W. to the actual facts presented in this work will surely continue. These people who look upon any revealing of the truth as an attack on their idol prefer to denegrate the works of those who reveal the truth. The historians and archivists who have had the opportunity to read the original documents and who have heard from those who were there know better.

More books revealing the truth will only serve to make AA stronger. After all, rigorous honesty is a part of AA's principles. Myths and legends make nice reading but the truth makes it all the more rewarding in the long run.

If one prefers the official party line and wants to read something that is less than reality this book will not be what they seek. However, if one is seeking the truth and chooses not to rely upon contempt prior to investigation - Mr. Hartigan's biography of Bill will be very informative.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, March 23, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson (Hardcover)

Finally we have the definitive biography of a man to whom countless millions owe their lives. Not only alcoholics, but the wives, children, and other family members of alcoholics should read this excellent narrative of the life of Bill Wilson, co-founder of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Hartigan's incisive style, and the book's compact but continually fascinating treatment of Wilson's personal struggle which finally brought forth the fruit of the original and most successful 12 Step recovery program, is easy to read, well documented, at times painfully truthful, yet faithful to the reality of who this great man was. Long overdue, this book fills the void which unfortunately was left by the previous effort of Robert Thompson. Unlike the previous volume, Hartigan's volume is thoroughly documented with a valuable bibliography and a full index. Every alcoholic on the planet should read this text and realize that the co-founder was just as human as they and suffered through the disease and the recovery just as they do. Well-done, Mr. Hartigan.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars trash or treasure?, March 17, 2000

By 

Charles Bishop, Jr. (Wheeling, West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson (Hardcover)

Hartigan's new bio of Bill W., that anonymous guy with the warts, certainly will provoke trash reviews from some. Well, such reviewers would criticize St. Paul who killed Christians and then spread the Gospel worldwide. Hartigan's book is well-researched in the literature and through many personal interviews. His years with Lois Wilson, Bill's widow, provided him with the kind of history that is practically non-existent any more. The oldtimers are dead. So his bio of Bill saves much from oblivion. Argue all you want with his interpretations at times but let's give credit here for a first-class effort to paint a balanced picture of a guy who struggled all his life, not with sobriety, but with his weaknesses and moral, emotional and spiritual warts. In America today, we very often place multi-billionaires, sports heroes, movie stars, and the latest "15-minutes of fame" TV personalities on a pedestal...only to enjoy ripping them to shreds as they fall to moral weakness and media exposure. We place them up there with the virtues of power, prestige, and greed. How spiritually refreshing then to find this book about Bill W. who knew poverty most of his life and was tempted often by money, who was offered great public prestige and rejected it, who gave away the power of leadership to the AA Fellowship at large. Trying to hide these things would turn Bill W. into an empty plastic saint. I'll take Hartigan's book, warts [if any] and all. His experiences with Lois and many others were a treasure and he has shared that treasure with us. Thanks, Fran. Amen.