Easy Does It... The Story of Mac from 1950 with a Foreword by Dr. Silkworth

Easy Does It... The Story of Mac by Hugh Reilly from 1950 - First Printing with the Original Dust Jacket

This is a very RARE recovery book to find. The name of the author, Hugh Reilly, is a pseudonym. The author of this book is still unknown today. This book was published by P. J. Kennedy & Sons in 1950. The Story of Mac is a biographical novel about an alcoholic named Mac who recovers from alcoholism in Alcoholics Anonymous. The novel makes clear what it is like to be and to care deeply about an alcoholic. It is written in the language of the heart to instruct more than just the mind.

The book's Foreword was written by Dr. William D. Silkworth, who was Bill Wilson’s doctor in Towns Hospital in December 1934. Dr. Silkworth went on to write the "Doctor's Opinion" which was published in the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book in 1939.

Dr. William D. Silkworth's insights into alcoholism, particularly his endorsement of Alcoholics Anonymous through the "Doctor's Opinion" in the Big Book, were pivotal in shaping AA's approach and contributing to its success. Silkworth was among the first in the medical community to describe alcoholism as a disease, which shifted the understanding of alcohol dependence from a moral failing to a medical condition requiring treatment. This perspective helped reduce stigma and made the condition more understandable to those suffering from it. By framing alcoholism as an illness, Silkworth provided a scientific basis for AA’s approach, making it more palatable to a wider audience, including skeptics within the medical community and the general public.

Silkworth introduced the idea that alcoholics have a physical allergy to alcohol, leading to a craving beyond their mental control. This concept is critical to the first step of AA, where members admit their powerlessness over alcohol.

Although a medical doctor, Silkworth supported the spiritual solution proposed by AA. His endorsement of spiritual and psychological recovery methods alongside medical insight helped bridge the gap between science and spirituality in treating alcoholism. His professional endorsement in the "Doctor's Opinion" provided AA with a crucial validation that encouraged many initial skeptics to consider and accept the program, thereby expanding its reach.

Dr. Silkworth’s contributions, encapsulated in his writing of the "Doctor's Opinion," provided a critical endorsement and a foundational understanding that helped Alcoholics Anonymous to gain acceptance and become a successful worldwide movement in addiction recovery. His insights into the nature of alcoholism as both a physical and mental illness laid the groundwork for the program's principles and methods, which have helped millions achieve and maintain sobriety.

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Pages 95-101 of Silkworth, The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks by Dale Mitchell makes a compelling case that Silkworth was indeed the author of Easy Does It...The Story of Mac. Easy Does It tells a fictitious account of what closely resembles Knickerbocker hospital which is where Dr. Silkworth worked at (and simultaneously Towns) and the book demonstrates an in depth knowledge of the AA program at a time where few would have been able to author such an accurate account. Easy Does It... The Story of Mac was published in 1950.

Silkworth's New York Times obituary was "matter of fact" about Silkworth being the author. Family members of Silkworth also believe firmly he was the author. More evidence and theories supporting that Silkworth was the author are provided in the aforementioned pages of Silkworth's biography by Dale Mitchell.

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Here is the complete Foreword by Dr. Silkworth:

 “ALCOHOLISM-a modern social problem. Modern indeed? For as many years as man has known alcoholism, his struggle for the power and means to control it have persevered.

In very recent years medical science has classified alcoholism as a disease-the manifestation of an allergy-and alcoholics as those persons whose drinking cannot be controlled but who must resort to it compulsively for the scope and relief they crave and which it seems to provide.

The author of this book has long been a close student of the alcoholic problem. He certainly does not write as an amateur. Primarily he is an objective observer. Certain ultramodern students of the problem will object to his approach and others may even be offended by it.

This is not a scientific treatise on alcoholism but rather the vivid story of the death struggle of the alcoholic doomed to destruction, but in the end finding the possibility of reconstruction through the fundamental doctrine of religion. The author very properly integrates the moral psychology of Alcoholics Anonymous as an essential element of his philosophy and teaching.

This book attempts no formal answer to this, one of the greatest of our social problems, but it is distinctly successful as a realistic treatise of one alcoholic's escape from certain doom and of the implications of hope his story holds for those who will follow his ideas and suggestions.

There are many books and treatises, both lay and professional, on alcoholism, but this book is not an echo or paraphrase of any other. It deals with a complex subject, discussed from many angles, often challenging, always vigorous and original.

WILLIAM DUNCAN SILKWORTH, M.D.

Physician-in-Charge of the A.A. Wing in Knickerbocker Hospital, New York 

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More about The Story of Mac from the dust jacket:

HERE is the most revealing story of an alcoholic you have ever read. Written by one who has gone down to the depths of degradation, it describes in the most vivid language every step of that dizzy path. But it does more; for it tells, not only of a man's downfall, but of his complete recovery with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

No one but a true alcoholic can know of the physical compulsion that alcohol can generate; nor can anyone else appreciate the loneliness that comes to him from this lack of real understanding on the part of others, his relatives, friends and associates. The author, in order to convey the more forcefully this feeling of isolation and still preserve his anonymity, has resorted to a narrative which but barely disguises his true experience.

Every reader will find identity in one or another of the characters portrayed. The alcoholic will see something of himself in the chat-acter of Mac, who knew what it was to be sick and to find one's only remedy in the very poison that makes him that way. The nonalcoholic drinker will recognize himselfamong the friends who unwittingly helped Mac along the path to drunkenness by their ill-advised conviviality. All who are in any way concerned with alcoholism will learn, as The Padre in the story learned, that Alcoholics Anonymous can be a definite aid in the rehabilitation of an alcoholic if he is seriously looking for help.

In this book the reader can put himself in the place of the alcoholic as he sits with Mac and the Padre in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, as he listens to the discussions of their problems, and as he begins to adopt the program of the twelve steps — steps designed to promote in him a mental attitude and a development of character which amount to a veritable way of life.”

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A Message from the Author on the back of the dust jacket:

Perhaps when in the throes of a headache or when your ulcers are churning up, someone asks how you are feeling. Maybe you could say, "My head is bursting"; or "My ulcers are working overtime, but personally I feel fine." By "personally" you meant some core, some essence or soul that could stay intact and look at this pain or sickness as something apart from the rest of you.

Or maybe you've had a hangover and said, "My stomach is full of tropical fish, my mouth tastes as if I've been drinking lye and my skull feels like the head hunters were at it; but personally I think I'll live." The core is still there, all right.

When, through alcohol, that core leaves you, and with it, your job, your money and your friends, and you don't know how to get the real "you" back, except for a little while with some more alcohol, and when even that stops working the miracle for you-then brother you are sick. I know. And you get fed up with the smug people who say, "Why don't you be like me?" when they don't even know you. And you try more alcohol and it may work—but only for a little while.

I've read stories about fellows like me and they were good, but they didn't give any answers. I read and listened to many divergent and confusing opinions about alcoholics, but they didn't seem to have any bearing on me. Finally I met some people who understood me, and—well, I am not drinking today. That was four years ago and every day has been like that, and in some way each day seems better.

How that happened is all in this book; that and some other things too. I tried to give a good account of what these fine people did for me. If you are like me and this book helps you find the "out" you are looking for, all you have to do to be even is to pass on to somebody else what you learned.

If you are not like me, may I express the hope that this book in some way, by something that may be found in it, helps to turn the trick for someone you like.“

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This is a former library book that is in fair to good condition. The cover shows some minor wear and stains. There are library stamps and markings in the book. There is no other writing or markings inside the book. The original dust jacket is in good condition with some edge wear and stains.

Please view all of the photos for the conditions.