Bill W.: The absorbing and deeply moving life story of Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous by Robert Thomsen  (6)
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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
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
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