Bill W: My 1st 40 Years

by Bill W., Bill Wilson, Hendrik W Bode

Bill W My First 40 Years Hardcover This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568383738
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Hazelden
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Bill W on Bill W

This is an autobiography of Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of AA. It is an edited transcript of recordings he made during September, 1954, at the Hotel Bedford in the company of a man named Ed Bierstadt. The book contains interesting anecdotes on Bill's first forty years of life. The purpose of his recording these stories was to describe his childhood development and how it related to his personality development and subsequent descent into alcoholism. It ends abruptly at his speech before the Oxford Group. The Afterword briefly describes the ensuing thirtysix years and contains many footnotes referring to other books of interest about Bill W and the history of AA. This book is very refreshing and avoids the controversies that plague so many of the other biographies recently published. To read the account of Bill's spiritual experience again, in his own words, is extremely compelling. There are also several appendices which flesh out many of the references in the story.

Bill W on Bill W

This is the story of AA co-founder Bill Wilson's first forty years of life set forth in his own words recorded at the Hotel Bedford during September, 1954. He is assisted by Ed Bierstadt. The book is a wonderful compilation of anecdotes told in Bill's own words in an effort to shed light upon how his experiences led to his personality development which contributed to his fall into alcoholism. It is refreshing and free of controversial arguments found in some of the more recent biographies. The description of his spiritual experience once again by the man himself is very uplifting. The afterword and appendices nicely flesh out this historical account of this truly special man to whom so many owe their lives.