Books of the Rising Tide: The Oxford Group’s Recommended Reading

Books of the Rising Tide

The Oxford Group’s Recommended Reading — Set of Six Oxford Group Books along with an Original 1937 Rising Tide Magazine

Overview

Offered here is a curated Oxford Group collection anchored by the scarce 1937 Rising Tide magazine (first and only issue)—paired with the six books specifically recommended inside the magazine on the “More About the Rising Tide” page. This set captures the Oxford Group’s message in print at full stride and preserves, in one package, the exact reading list the magazine promoted to its readers. 

Issued during the Oxford Group’s peak international moment, this collection captures the exact stream of “changed life” spirituality that influenced the pre–A.A. landscape and resonated with early Alcoholics Anonymous pioneers—including Bill Wilson, co-founder of A.A. and author of the Big Book.

What’s Included (7 items total)

1. Rising Tide Magazine — 1937, first and only issue (includes original Christmas sale promotion insert)

2. When Man Listens — Cecil Rose (4th printing, 1939) paperback

3. I Was a Pagan — V. C. Kitchen (8th printing) with original dust jacket

4. Life Began Yesterday — Stephen Foot (6th printing, Sept. 1938) with original dust jacket

5. For Sinners Only — A. J. Russell (20th printing) with original dust jacket

6. The Conversion of the Church — Samuel M. Shoemaker (Second Edition) with original dust jacket

7. What Is the Oxford Group? — “The Layman with a Notebook” (6th printing, Jan. 1937) with original dust jacket

Why This Set Matters

Rather than a single title, this is a ready-made Oxford Group “starter library”—the very kind of reading stack promoted and circulated in the movement’s peak years. The inclusion of Rising Tide is especially important: the magazine is both a primary-source snapshot of the Oxford Group’s public messaging and a direct link to the period’s recommended reading culture.

The “More About the Rising Tide” page acts like a built-in bibliography, pointing readers to the movement’s most-circulated titles. This collection reunites that page with the actual six recommended books, making the set especially appealing to:

• Oxford Group / Moral Re-Armament collectors

• Early A.A. History collectors and readers

• Display-focused collectors who want a cohesive, story-driven grouping rather than single volumes

Condition

All items are in good but used vintage condition. Expect general wear to covers and dust jackets, plus occasional minor markings consistent with age and handling. The dust jackets are all in protective plastic covers.

Please review all photos closely for the best sense of condition across the set.

Collector Notes

Complete groupings like this are increasingly hard to assemble—especially with multiple Oxford Group titles in original jackets and the single-issue Rising Tide magazine with its insert intact. A strong, displayable set with real historical weight for Oxford Group / MRA collectors and AA History shelves.

Good - Cover and interior pages clean.

• Historic Feature: Early coverage of Alcoholics Anonymous in a major national magazine.
• Rockefeller Connection: Details the crucial dinner that helped establish A.A.’s legitimacy.
• Early A.A. History: Documents the fellowship just five years after its founding.
• Condition: Well-preserved copy, good overall with only wear to front cover.

This issue is a historically significant artifact, capturing the moment Alcoholics Anonymous first entered the public spotlight, an event that shaped the fellowship’s future growth into a worldwide movement.

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