William H. Schaberg and Writing the Big Book
William H. Schaberg is a scholar, author, rare book dealer, and collector based in Fairfield, Connecticut. His book, Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A., published by Central Recovery Press in 2019, is one of the most important modern works on the early history of Alcoholics Anonymous and the creation of the Big Book.
Based on more than a decade of primary-source research, Schaberg’s study focuses on a narrow but crucial period in AA history: from October 1937, when the idea of writing a book was first seriously proposed, to April 1939, when Alcoholics Anonymous was finally published.
For many readers and historians, Writing the Big Book represents the most thoroughly researched professional treatment of AA history since Ernie Kurtz’s Not-God. Rather than relying primarily on later recollections or familiar AA stories, Schaberg built his history from original documents preserved in AA archives and other collections. These real-time records allowed him to reconstruct the complicated, human, and often surprising story behind the writing and publication of AA’s foundational text.
A Rare Book Dealer Turns to AA History
Schaberg began collecting rare books in 1984 and became a recognized rare book dealer in 1994 through Athena Rare Books. His work as a bookseller and bibliographer shaped the way he approached history: through documents, editions, publication records, and careful attention to how books came into being.
His earlier scholarly work, The Nietzsche Canon: A Publication History and Bibliography, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1995. That project reflected his long-standing interest in the history of ideas and the physical history of important texts.
Schaberg purchased his first collectible copy of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1989 and began professionally dealing in AA-related material in the mid-1990s. Over the years, he bought and sold many important AA books, with a special focus on the first sixteen printings of the First Edition Big Book.
In 2001, he purchased a multilithed prepublication copy of the Big Book at auction. At first, his interest was practical and bibliographical. He wanted to understand what he had acquired: How many copies had been made? How rare was it? Where did it fit in the publication history of Alcoholics Anonymous?
Those questions led him into the AA archives.
Discovering the Documentary Record
What Schaberg found in the archives changed the direction of his research. He discovered a large body of underused and previously underreported material relating to the writing, financing, editing, promotion, and publication of the Big Book.
The result was an eleven-year research project that eventually became Writing the Big Book. Like his earlier work on Nietzsche, the project began with bibliographical questions and expanded into a full historical investigation.
Schaberg’s work carefully examines the authorship and development of Alcoholics Anonymous, including the roles of Bill Wilson, Hank Parkhurst, Ruth Hock, Frank Amos, Dr. Bob, and other early figures. His research also explores the financial struggles behind the book, the formation of Works Publishing, the debates over language and spirituality, and the gradual development of the program’s ideas during the writing process.
One of the strengths of Writing the Big Book is that it presents early AA not as a polished legend, but as a living movement made up of real people, strong personalities, disagreements, experiments, compromises, and moments of extraordinary good fortune.
Reconsidering Familiar AA Stories
Through his research, Schaberg found that some familiar stories about AA’s earliest years were more symbolic or simplified than strictly historical. Rather than diminishing AA’s origins, he argues that the real story is even more compelling.
The creation of the Big Book was not inevitable. It involved debt, uncertainty, disagreement, failed fundraising, personal ambition, spiritual conviction, editorial struggle, and practical necessity. The fact that the book was written and published at all becomes, in Schaberg’s telling, one of the remarkable achievements of early AA history.
His work helps readers see the Big Book not only as a spiritual text, but also as a historical object: written under pressure, shaped by many hands, printed with borrowed money, and launched into the world with no guarantee that anyone would buy it.
A Contribution to AA History
Writing the Big Book is especially valuable because it brings together archival research, bibliographical expertise, and a deep respect for the human story behind Alcoholics Anonymous. It gives collectors, researchers, archivists, and AA history readers a clearer understanding of how the Big Book came to exist.
Schaberg’s work also highlights lesser-known contributors whose roles are sometimes overshadowed in standard accounts. By paying close attention to documents and chronology, he shows that the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous was a collective and often complicated process.
For students of AA history, the book is an essential resource. For collectors of early AA material, it provides context for understanding the significance of prepublication copies, early printings, Works Publishing, and the documents surrounding the book’s creation.
Additional Work
In addition to Writing the Big Book, Schaberg also created a detailed 12-Step Workgroup Guide, designed to help small groups work through the Steps using directions and suggestions drawn from the Big Book. The guide organizes the process into manageable segments for use by recovering alcoholics working together.
More information about William H. Schaberg, his research, and Writing the Big Book can be found at his website:
www.writingthebigbook.com