Customer Reviews

Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I just finished Mr. Hartigans biography of Bill Wilson. I thought it was well researched and well written. I found it amazing that someone could be so dysfunctional in the first half of his life and yet display great organizational skills in his later years. I have never had the misfortune to need AA but this book helped me to understand those who do. I would highly recommend this fine biography.

This is a wonderful biography of one of the century's greatest individuals. I have never before seen such a full treatment of his contributions to Alcoholics Anonymous, or such a well-rounded portrayal of Bill Wilson as a person. His personal problems make the sacrifices he made to start AA and all the years he stayed with it to see it become internationally recognized all the more remarkable. Francis Hartigan's well-rounded, highly readable book truly brought Wilson alive for me.

I've been a "friend" of Bill and Dr. Bob since Christmas 1990, and have read a lot of material, both "conference approved" and other, and this book is probably the best biography of Bill W. that I've come across. I have to disagree with the reviewers who gave this work a low rating... I do not see this biography as a "hatchet job" or any sort of attempt to demean or diminish the memory of Bill Wilson.

Bill was not saint, and he never really sought sainthood. If some hold him to saintly standards or infallible behavior, those depictions were\are pressed on him.

Hartigan successfully describes Bill's childhood, young adulthood, service years, marriage and the early years of AA's struggles in great detail. Until I read this book, I knew from other readings that Bill had many faults, but I did not fully appreciate the depth of his alcoholic behavior, and its effect on both Bill and Lois. I also did not appreciate the severity Bill's lifelong struggle with deep depression.

This biography also does a good job putting context and details to Bill's lesser known "adventures" which folks hostile to AA use to discredit Bill and the AA program.

Bill experimented with LSD, starting in the 50's and into the 60's... starting when the drug was legal and being investigated for psychotherapeutic potential to help alcoholics and schizophrenics.

Bill actively promoted niacin for alcoholics, dragging the AA name into this promotion, but it was out of enthusiasm and hope to help the still suffering alcoholic. He was called to task for this, and the AA name removed from such endorsements.

Bill was unfaithful to Lois and maintained long term relationships outside his marriage. This biography, written by the personal secretary to Lois at the end of her long life, makes no excuses for this behavior, but does add context.

I came away with greater appreciation of Bill Wilson, the man, who overcame many serious problems to help create an organization that has helped many thousands of people live better lives.

The author went to work for Bill W's widow. Eventually this book resulted, after both were dead.

The book provides a much needed perspective. It is clear on Bill's early atheism (which he called agnosticism) and helps focus how AA is a spiritual program and not a religious one and wny.

Over and over again it explains the forces that were being reacted against. If you've listened to Bill and Charlie (they are available for free on the internet as mp3 downloads for ipods and similar products -- or your computer), this fills in the gaps.

For example, everyone knows about Bill as a womanizer in his later years. What people do not know is that about the time he turned forty, his wife decided that she was done with sex. She was older than he was, went through menopause and retired from sex. No wonder that has he got into his fifties he started thinking of her more as a mother figure and less as a wife figure.

In a modern hospital, such as where my wife works, everyone knows about "banana bags" (IVs that are yellow from the b-vitamins, especially niacin, used routinely on alcoholics who have serious problems because of bad diet) -- but I never knew that started with niacin for alcoholics.

Or the rumors of financial misuse -- at complete odds with poverty and the audits -- now I know how they started and how they kept going.

I'm not an alcoholic (well, I've never had a drink, so I'm at least a very dry alcoholic), though I've sent a number of clients to 12 step programs, until recently I did not have the slightest idea what they were about.

With this I understand what makes AA different from every other program out there, why it found that balance and how it was shaped and touched by the personality of its founder.

The book is an easy read, and gripping. I finished it over a weekend, along with other projects and preparing and teaching a Sunday School lesson.

It was interesting, complex, consistent and had a basic appreciation and fondness for the subject.

I'm not sure how it plays inside AA, but from the outside I find myself admiring Bill W and AA a great deal from having read this book. Heck, I even got started on the "Big Book" (I've read about half of it so far).

If you've gotten to this page where the book is advertised, it is probably worth your while to buy it. I got my copy at half price books for six dollars. They had a bundle of them. Used copies in excellent to new condition abound.

Buy it, read it, think about it. Well worth the read.

"Bill W." I feel is a very good book about Bill Wilson and even though I did not like reading it the first time, I read it again with an open mind. It helped me understand the man and why he was able to become co-founder of AA and write the Big Book "Alcoholics Anonymous." If he did not have problems, he would not have been able to do this, and in reading "Bill W.", it has helped me understand what we all go through in life. Be as honest as possible today, do the next right thing and remember "We are not saints."

I had skimmed the book but I had not read it. Now that I HAVE read it, I want to say that I liked it. It seems to give a well rounded picture of Bill and it tells quite honestly the background of AA. It did skip around a bit but on the whole the writing was good. And although the older members of our family considered him no good, I am proud to say he was my cousin.

I'm always interested in separating fact from gossip and am reminded of something I read from AS Bill Sees It: "Implicit throughout A.A.'s Traditions is the confession that our Fellowship has its sins. We admit that we have character defects as a society..."
Bill's laisons and trysts have some interest to me but I find the frank personal details... the relationships with both men and women in the lives of Lois and Bill to be complex and as fascinating as the movement these people gave birth and midwifed into the ages.