Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous [Paperback]

Nan Robertson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2000

A.A. is the most successful self-help movement in history, yet it is also the most misunderstood. This book will reach out to a much wider audience with its magnificent story of human courage and the indomitable human soul.A brave and wonderful book that could save the life of somebody you love-Russell Baker.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a comprehensive look at Alcoholics Anonymous by a member who is also a reporter for the New York Times. Robertson traces the history of the organization, which had its roots in the Oxford Movement of the 1930s and was actually formed when alcoholics Bill Wilson and Bob Smith bared their hearts to one another in Akron, Ohio, in 1935. Progress was slow at first, but as A.A. increasingly achieved success, it grew to its present membership, which numbers in the millions. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings follow standard patterns and demand both absolute candor and total anonymity. Robertson also offers insights into Al-Anon, founded for families of alcoholics. She stresses that, counter to popular wisdom, it is not necessary to be devoutly religious to join A.A. and commends society's gaining recognition of alcoholism as a disease. Concluding with her own moving story, Robertson has written an inspiring overview of a noble organization.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Founded in the 1930s by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, who sought to help each other stay sober one day at a time, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) has grown from that shaky fellowship to a world-wide organization of some two million men and women. These two books approach the self-help organization from very different viewpoints. Anyone whose life has been touched in any way by alcoholism will find much of interest in Robertson's book, not least in the story of her own triumphant battle with alcoholism. Robertson, a reporter for the New York Times , provides a highly readable account of the history A.A., not only telling us how it works but giving insight on why. She successfully demystifies the role of religion in A.A. and provides compelling portraits of the co-founders and of various members around the world. Unfortunately, Pittman's book does not engage the reader's attention so forcefully, too often reading like a dissertation. It does provide an interesting historical perspective on the concept of alcoholism as disease, focusing on theories of causation, classification, and treatment from the 1890s to the 1930s. Lengthy but uninspired attention is given to Wilson, but co-founder Smith is hardly mentioned. And although Robertson states that the text of her book was read, edited, and approved by A.A. members in New York and Akron, as required by A.A., Pittman makes no such assertion. Robertson's book is highly recommended. Buy Pittman if demand warrants. Jodith Janes, Univ. Hospitals of Cleveland
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (December 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595154581
• ISBN-13: 978-0595154586
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,005,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good history of AA and the recovery "industry", July 9, 2001

By 

Keith Watt (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous (Paperback)

This book is well researched (including interviews with the widow of Bill W, co-founder of AA) and well written. It gives an honest history of the origins of AA without the trappings of saintliness often given to Bill Wilson from the works published by the AA general services office and some other sources. For examples, Bill's infidelities, neglecting family responsibilities to help fellow drunks, and "post-sobriety" experiments with LSD and other chemicals are mentioned. The history sections on AA are excellent as a result of this objectivity. The author also gives an excellent account of typical experience in in-patient rehab.

The author's personal story is equally compelling, and touches on issues chemically dependant individuals face, including how alcohol addiction relates to other facets of life, including depression and physical illness.

All in all, one of the better works on AA and the disease of alcoholism. As a well qualified member of AA, I have one message for other AA members concerned with the author "violating" the 11th tradition on anonimity: "get over it!". Bill Wilson was (and is) hardly "anonymous". If his widow didn't have a problem with this work neither should we.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of my 28 years in sobriety, November 26, 2000

By 

Robert F. Hale (Jackson Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous (Mass Market Paperback)

Nan Robertson's book is the most accurate I have ever read concerning Alcoholics Anonymous. She is devoted to AA, but more so to her research and her honest in writing. If I had to read one book concerning AA, this would be the one. Robert F. Hale

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative behind-the-scenes look at AA, November 1, 2006

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous (Hardcover)

Heard the taped version of GETTING BETTER by
Nan Robertson, an inside look at Alcoholics
Anonymous . . . I've often wondered about this
group, but had seen little ever written about it--in
part because of the anonymity factor.

Somehow, Robertson (a Pulitzer Prize-winning
reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES) got permission
to write the book . . . in it, she tells the story of how a failed
stockbroker and a surgeon together found a way to stay
sober--one day at a time.

She also describes what happens at the actual meetings . . . and
that is what I perhaps liked best about the book: its
behind-the scenes view of these gatherings . . . the
fact that Robertson actually attended many of these as
a recovering alcoholic made her reporting all the more believable.

I also liked how she summarized the message of message
of AAA into these three key points: Be honest, change
yourself and help others.

GETTING BETTER was made even more enjoyable by Michael
Learned's excellent narration.