The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings - 2nd Printing 1989 - ODJ

The Language of the Heart Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings. Second Printing from 1989 with the original dust jacket.

 From the Introduction:

Publication of The Language of the Heart brings together for the first time virtually every article written for the AA Grapevine by Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Though several of his articles are available in reprint form, whether as pamphlets, AA books, or in later issues of the magazine, they have never before been published in one volume.

In June 1944, the Grapevine was established as a local newsletter through the individual efforts of six New York City AAs who were concerned about what seemed to be "a lack of understanding" among groups in the metropolitan area. Mailed by the six editors to all known groups in the U.S. and Canada, and sent free to AAs in the World War II armed forces, the Grapevine soon caught on nationally. In 1945, by vote of the groups, it became the principal journal of the Fellowship as a whole, and since the January 1949 issue it has been known as the international journal of Alcoholics Anonymous.

From the first issue of the eight-page newsletter, Bill W. was a prolific contributor, an enthusiastic advocate, and for many years a consulting editor. In spite of a grueling travel schedule and a copious correspon-dence, Bill could never find enough time to respond to all the many and varied demands of a Fellowship that was still in the process of forma-tion, and in the Grapevine he discovered an ideal vehicle of communication with the members and groups who clamored for his insights and experience. In more than 150 articles, written over a span of twenty-six years, Bill documented the painstaking process of trial and error that resulted in AA's spiritual principles of Recovery, Unity, and Service, and articulated his vision of what the Fellowship could become.

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150 articles written by Bill W. between 1944-1971. In 1935, two drunks met and talked in the library of a home in Akron, Ohio, and from that single event was to grow a program of recovery for more than a million once-hopeless alcoholics. How did the seed that became Alcoholics Anonymous take root and develop? The articles in this book tell much of that story.

In the Grapevine, AA’s international journal, co-founder Bill W. recorded–and reflected on–AA’s history as it happened. A prolific writer, Bill authored more than 150 Grapevine articles, from 1944 to the late 1960’s and virtually all of them appear here, published for the first time in one volume.

A man of extraordinary energy and action, Bill committed his thoughts to paper with great facility. Yet the lessons of which he writes were born of a long and arduous process of trial and error, and in the events and insights he chronicled from AA’s pioneer years, sober alcoholics can find their own struggles and those of their groups today.

Covering a multitude of topics, from the basic principles of AA’s Steps and Traditions to a discussion of the personal search of many AA members for “emotional sobriety,” Bill’s words hold meaning for AA members of any age.

Writing ten years after his first visit to European AA with his wife Lois in 1950, Bill had this to say: “As we journeyed from land to land, we had the same magnificent adventure in kinship over and over…Everywhere, everywhere, it was the same ...the communication of heart to heart in wonder, in joy, and in everlasting gratitude. Lois and I knew then that AA could circle the globe — and it has."

It is the belief of the Grapevine editors that the fundamental AA experience expressed here will illuminate every facet of AA life — a way of life that has, over the years, helped one suffering alcoholic to communicate with another in "the language of the heart."

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Lois Wilson wrote in the Foreword:

“Dear Friends,

As you may know, Bill wrote quite extensively for the Grapevine over many years. It was a way for him to share his experience, strength and hope with the entire Fellowship.

I think it is wonderful that so much of this work will now be available again -- especially for the countless A.A.s who have come into the Fellowship since these articles were first published.

I hope they will find them useful.”

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This book is in very good conditions. The cover has light wear. The dust jacket has some edge wear with a stain at the top of the front cover. There is an inscription on the 2nd page of the book. No other writing or markings in the book.

Please view all of the photos for conditions.