Alcoholism Books

The most fun I've ever had on a trip I didn't make. This book reads is easy reading - never boring. The author in trekking around the Mediterranean seems to have almost a story a step. His local and historical knowledge is impressive. Each curve of the beach, inlet, cove or nearby island comes with an event or myth or legend - some originally recorded by Homer, some as reported recently in local or national media. The book is sprinkled with intriguing bits and pieces about famous people the rest of us have met only in museums and gossip columns. A plus - the writer's love of nature and descriptive powers whet your appetite for Mediterranean travel. If you go, do take the book with you - a great guide!

Taylor Chambers
Pittsburgh, PA

"Contemplative and entertaining, The Idiot traverses a very contemporary Mediterranean shoreline - though Greek gods and goddesses pop up along the way. Much more than a guidebook, Stratte-McClure's tale is saturated with history and humour. This mid-life meditation will appeal to adventurers and armchair travellers alike." - Linda Phillips Ashour, Author of Speaking in Tongues

"The Idiot and the Odyssey mixes an enjoyable walk with a little Greek mythology in a breathtakingly beautiful part of Europe. It encouraged me to get off the golf course and out of the pool to explore by foot a land steeped in history and natural beauty. I even felt that Bogart, the author's yellow Labrador, was there in spirit." - Des Baum, Low-Handicap Golfer, Master Swimmer & Founder/President of Covico (Antibes, France)

"In this midlife `coming of age' quest, we're invited to join Stratte-McClure on his extraordinary journey - trekking the Mediterranean through each creek and cranny as he weaves his observations of the physical world with his own inner contemplations. Readers are treated to meanderings filled with encounters, adventures and mishaps amidst a backdrop of musings abundant with wit and wisdom. An amazing and amusing read!" - Elizabeth Billhardt, Photographer/Author of Coastal Pleasures: Perusing the French Coastline

"If, as the Greek physician Hippocrates said, `Walking is man's best medicine,' then Joel Stratte-McClure's book proves it. Everyone who accompanies him will be healthier in mind and spirit. Slow down and read The Idiot and the Odyssey." - Alex Belida, Media Critic, Former Foreign Correspondent for the Voice of America and author of Regrets Only: An Africa Journal *

"Perhaps our perception of the world does not depend on the places we visit but the gait of our travelling. I never thought that, in an era obsessed with speed and technology, somebody could thrill me with his amusing observations, experiences and ruminations while tracing on foot the same route I travelled by car in 1968 to visit my aging grandfather at the other end of the Spanish coast. This is the best guide to the Mediterranean since Homer's The Odyssey and as informative as James Michener's Iberia." - Princess Beatriz de Orleans Borbón from Spain.

"An amazing read. With each step we learn more about life as we do not necessarily know it. We forget about the physical strength defined in the author's trek and are captivated by his soul, which is defined with every step of the way."- Tevia Celli, Founder and Owner, Body & Soul Workout and The Daily Core (West Hollywood, California)

"This amazing account of human stamina and daring do, where mythological references merge with the author's experiences, creates a brilliant correspondence between past and present. Woven seamlessly in this tale are courage, curiosity and personal reflection, often against a historical or cultural context that shuns all pretence. The trek illuminates the human adventure, comprehension of the self and understanding of `the other'." - Constantine Christofides, Professor at the University of Washington and the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France.

"This wonderful story of a journey through a fascinating part of the world, through time and history, is best of all a story of people. I learned much about the Mediterranean that was new to me and it gave me a new vision of the coast of France that I thought I knew so well." - Russ Collins, Founder and Editor, ProvenceBeyond.com

"I always knew Joel could tell a good story, but this is a real feat (although I don't quite remember the Moroccan incident in 1970 as he does). As a bookseller, I'm already looking forward to the next volume." - Henrietta Dax, Owner of Clarke's Bookshop (Cape Town, South Africa)

"A remarkable book that is equal parts travel guide, history book and charming memoir. Beautifully written, The Idiot and the Odyssey is a siren song to our peripatetic Australian psyche. Heracles would be ever so proud!" - Susie Dobson, President, Australians in Film (Hollywood, California)

"Reminiscent of The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux but on foot, this is a book you can savour, take to bed and roll around in your mind to learn about life's journey. Packed with information, loaded with humorous encounters, stuffed with life-changing revelations, this meandering walk is worth living vicariously. A great gift to inspire employees, friends and wives." - Charles Eisenhour, Commercial Director, Pepe Jeans (London)

"Having revelled in the sun, storms and special characters of the Mediterranean, I can attest to Stratte-McClure's insightful clarity. Without being tedious or sanctimonious, he introduces people and places as stereotypical, fantastic and ridiculous as could only be true in the Mediterranean. From one audacious and adventurous minga to another, I compliment him on his stable stride in an unstable but captivating region." - Ethan Gelber, Lonely Planet Author and President of BikeAbout-the Mediterranean

"With the Mediterranean as his muse, Joel Stratte-McClure embarks on travels intended not only to broaden the mind, but also to serve as a springboard for reconnecting with the wisdom of the past. An Odyssey that meanders from Greek philosophers to personal demons, a reflective, amusing and open-minded attempt to reconstrue existential questions we ask at the age of 20, some thirty years on." - Jill Harry, Editor of New Riviera Magazine

"Like slow food, the Herculean hike around the Mediterranean by Joel Stratte-McClure - no idiot, for sure - seems an improbable ambition. Yet, inspired by Odysseus, Chinese philosophy and his own mid-life crises, the account of his adventures is a triumph of travel writing - entertaining, witty, perceptive and informative. An enchanting read." - Marion Kaplan, Photojournalist/Author of Focus Africa and The Portuguese--The Land and Its People

"Joel Stratte-McClure maintains it would be unreasonable to think anyone can achieve Nirvana after walking less than 5000 kilometres. Wrong! I felt enlightened from the first page to the last of this inspiring and motivating book as I faithfully accompanied the author on every step and stumble of his remarkable journey. And it's a delight to see pesky French women finally taken off their pedestal." - Margaret Kemp, Editor at Large/Critic of Bonjour Paris

"A great book. Concept clearly explained, curiosity quickly alerted, classical mythology very effectively utilized with a clarity that will hold the ignorant as well as the cognoscente. And light of touch as well as erudite." - Michael Knipe, Former Foreign Correspondent of The Times of London

"A brave and unique story from a naturally talented writer, weaving with commendable, self-deprecating humour hard-won lessons drawn from the author's colourful life, with those gained on this amazing hike around the Mediterranean, all of it laced with erudite seams of wisdom from Homer's The Odyssey. This deserves a prize for originality and sheer daring." - Francis O'Hara, Author of Be My Guest

"Reading The Idiot and the Odyssey provides a hugely entertaining perspective of the world's oldest and greatest journey, conjured millennia ago by Homer. The book is a reminder that the Mediterranean, even today, is a wild and fascinating place." -Tony Perrottet, Author of Route 66 AD: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists

"Reading The Idiot and the Odyssey made my feet hurt but my imagination soar. It sparked a long-dormant wanderlust that inspired me to hastily stuff a backpack and head for the Mediterranean. Then practicality set in and I realized the task is far too Herculean for a mere mortal. Luckily Joel Stratte-McClure, who must have been infused with the power of the gods, was up to the challenge and let me vicariously feel like an adventurer through his awe-inspiring exploits." - Adam Rifkin, Writer/Director, (Look, Detroit Rock City, Mousehunt)

"This book puts the `soul' into walking, capturing the spirit of place and enabling you to feel that you are on every step of this adventurous journey. It provides real insights to the people, the culture and lifestyle found around the shores of the Mediterranean. Inspiring as it makes travel fun." -Peter Robinson, Radio Personality and Editor of San Francisco Books & Travel

"The whimsical author, a serial hiker in the midst of a mid-life crisis, embarks on an epic undertaking with determination, a sack full of Homeric quotes and Buddhist wisdom. You'll be glad you came along on a journey of discovery that is both entertaining and inspirational. Onward!" - Tony Rocca, Author of Catching Fireflies

"The brazen tale of this eccentric author smacks of attitude both audacious and foolhardy, yet he emerges, through his hilarity and touching humanness, wiser and more virtuous. A marvellous narration, one breathing ancient literature into a modern and real theatre, it connects myth with geography, history with legend and life-affirming purpose with the old bugaboo, the concept of impossible Quest. I'm so confident that The Idiot and the Odyssey will become a classic that it's already required reading for my advance placement students." - Gerald Rodgers, English Curriculum Coordinator, Santa Maria High School District (California)

"Joel Stratte-MeClure's The Idiot and the Odyssey is a wonderful book. By turns whimsical and profound -- and more than occasionally laugh-out-loud funny -- it defies all the conventions. It is at once an adventure story, a work of history, a philosophical treatise and an unflinchingly honest memoir." - Harry Stein, Screenwriter and Author of The Girl Watchers Club: Lessons from the Battlefields of Life

"A delightful, soulful memoir-cum-guide of the birthplace of modern civilization. Veteran journalist Stratte-McClure takes readers along the sometimes rugged and often-urban coastline of the Mediterranean and, with his well-honed reporting skills, peppers the adventure with wise words from our greatest philosophers, history lessons of coastline sites, colourful descriptions of the characters he meets and tales of his own rugged life. It makes you want to put on your hiking boots and hit the path yourself. In search of what? As Stratte-McClure understands more clearly with each day of his years long trek, that is the eternal question." - Dana Thomas, Former Newsweek Correspondent and Author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

"Joel Stratte-McClure's didactic but sensitive voice simultaneously describes and contemplates the Mediterranean landscape he traverses and the individuals who inhabit it. He combines a knowledgeable guide's eye of historic and cultural detail with a tourist's awe of the fascinating scenery and people. Homer would love it!" - Vince Tomasso, Classics Department, Stanford University

"From the turquoise-tinted water and zillion dollar yachts of Saint-Tropez to the intrigue of the Kasbah in Tangier, Joel Stratte-McClure takes the reader on a delightful spiritual journey around the Mediterranean that is filled nudists and Buddhists, the obscenely chic and the exotic. The Idiot and the Odyssey is such a terrific antidote to the middle age melancholia that if Homer could do a sequel, Odysseus would probably jump ship to join Stratte-McClure's MedTrek instead." - Craig Unger, Vanity Fair Contributing Editor, Author of The Fall of the House of Bush and Fellow at The Center on Law and Security at New York University's School of Law

"Stratte-McClure goes way beyond sharing an amazing personal adventure with us. He delivers an endless stream of wit and wisdom with such selfless honesty that we are compelled into self-examination. Every stressed corporate exec should read this! His creative energy is infectious and guaranteed to inspire innovation. Life changing!" - Mitch Waite, Founder and Creative Director, IntuThink

"Homer and Lao Tsu may be the author's go-to guys, but as I read this enchanting book I was reminded of Cervantes. The humorous adventures, the piquant observations, the dreamlike buoyancy of memories jostled by travel - Joel Stratte-McClure is Don Quixote with his head screwed on right." - Jeff Wheelwright, Author of The Irritable Heart: The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War

"Like travel writer Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific, journalist Joel Stratte-McClure's The Idiot and the Odyssey invites us along on a wonderfully entertaining pilgrimage around a legendary sea, undertaken by a recently-divorced middle-aged man hunting for fresh adventure, renewal and the meaning of life. The fleet-footed McClure finds his share of all three, and a dream experience of a lifetime. It's worth every ebullient, blistering step!" - Tom Moore, Editor-in-Chief, Reader's Digest Australia.

"Joel's fascinating account of his trek round the Mediterranean foreshores from Monaco to Morocco is part wry observation, part history, and part rumination and reflection. It makes you wish you could have been with him as he walked." - Lucienne Joy, former radio announcer and author of Ulterior Motives

If a Man Be Mad by Harold Maine is no light read. This 1947 autobiography of an alcoholic is a journey into a world of desperation and hopelessness. From his beginnings as a troubled youth to his eventual employment as an orderly in a psychiatric institution, Maine carries the reader through a saga of addiction and insanity, both on the behalf of the author and on behalf of society at large.

There are several perspectives one can take while reading this book. The clinical perspective is derived from Maine's surprise and disgust with the unorthodox treatment of the mentally ill within state and privately funded institutions. Specifically during the time Maine was admitted into these facilities, the main method of controlling the compulsions of the insane and addicted was incarceration and abandonment. Once inside the gates, patients were subjected to abuse on behalf of sadistic orderlies, looking for a punching bag and an outlet for anger, and egomaniacal doctors, determined to discover the concoction of medication and discipline that would ultimately cure the illness, at the expense of the patients' health and what little sanity they were clinging to.

Beyond the clinical perspective is the philosophical narrative of Maine's own descent into insanity, a gateway opened through drink. During Maine's bouts with instability, he was able to act as an outside observer at the same time his actions were out of control. He held a degree of detachment that allowed him to intelligently note when his behavior was dangerous, when he was hallucinating or when he was behaving criminally and unethically, yet he had no power to stop himself. His memory of events and dialogues throughout his various ordeals is incredibly vivid and astute, despite his revolving in and out of drunken stupors.

Maine's personal struggle with the shifting divisions between reality and madness provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an artist. This is not the type of story one plows through in one sitting and dismisses. Maine provides the type of content that must be digested in pieces, contemplated, and meditated upon. To accept anything at face value does an injustice to those suffering from mental illness. Maine possesses a gift in his ability to decipher the many facets of personality and the origin of a person's motivations.

As he notes that most of the names within his autobiography have been changed, Harold Maine is actually the pseudonym for the author Walker Winslow. However, to retrieve much information on the true identity of this mysterious and private author is difficult. I was able to dig up another psychiatry related nonfiction release entitled The Menninger Story, published in 1956 by Doubleday. A novel, Man in Paradise, was published in 1941 by Smith and Durrell. Through the accounts of his writing in If a Man Be Mad, we know that he had various pieces published by magazines, but many of these were also published under pseudonyms. I found an article titled "A Lesson from History," but digging up the actual text has proved to be a challenge. If anyone can provide me with any more information on this intellectual, I would be very appreciative.

If a Man be Mad...there couldn't have been a more appropriate title for this gem hidden amidst the American literature. Walker Winslow, writing as Harold Maine, had written this fascinating book while living in Big Sur, at a time when other great writers, such as Henry Miller resided nearby. Whether it was Winslow's gift or the proximity of some of the greatest in modern American literature, Mr. Winslow has achieved what only but a few writers are capable of. He shook my world.
Comprised of two separated books, before and after, shall we say, the story follows Winslow on his quest to find himself. A man torn apart from early childhood, he struggles not only with his own shadows, but also with the society at large; mainly its arrogance and ignorance, lack of understanding and its unwillingness to change its ways, no matter how wrong they may be. Writing in first-person, Winslow recounts stories of men and women on both sides of the fence separating the insane from the sane, yet, he clearly portrays the malicious nature of the so-called sane, which the insane are incapable of. At times a psychological thriller, at times a downright horror, a human horror, the story moves swiftly away from childhood innocence to the first day in mental institution. An alcoholic, but above all, a vulnerable human being, Winslow experiences his first awakening -- the institutions are not meant to cure people, they are merely put in place to prevent them from being free. From the inhuman indifference the guards and caretakers display without any regard for the patients, to the accounts of brutal beatings when a patient gets out of hand, Winslow portrays his first stay at a mental institution with cruel honesty. When he gets out, uncured, yet a changed man, he goes from institution to institution. Touched by death more than once, Winslow recounts his hopes after discovering AA and his first pleasant experience at a hospital in NY, where the staff seems to care, giving the reader hope that the world is perhaps not as screwed up as it appears.
Bouncing between near-death incidents, (brought about by his drinking), marriages, divorces, struggle to be the artist he wants to be (not the artist he has to be to get paid), schizophrenia and consciousness, Winslow walks a dangerously thin line. When he tries his luck on the other side, whether to help himself or others, as an attendant in one of the dreaded institutions, he discovers that the whole system is flawed. His descriptions of the inhuman treatment of veterans returning from the war seemed almost unbelievable, until the recent scandal regarding a VA hospital broke out. It is sad to see that 60 years after this book was published, we, as a society, are still doomed by the same mistakes.
Without spoiling anything for the reader, Walker Winslow's story may not be unique in its core, but it is a uniquely told story. I have never read another book quite like this one; so poetic, so disturbing, so timeless. A mad man's account of the mad gathering we call civilization, a cry for help lost amidst the applause for politicians, a light of hope lost in the darkness. If a Man be Mad is a story worth reading over and over, for it does not get old, it does not get boring, it does not cease to disturb. One man's humanity against Humanity at large, philosophy, psychology and drama -- mixed together in a deadly cocktail of words -- bled onto the pages by an amazing author.

Mr. Shabazz's book grabs you and makes each character so familiar to you. I'll remember this book forever.

This work was an answer to my prayer. I come from a very large family were alcohol and drug addiction is very prevalent. I had been currently struggling with how to best approach a sibling who is fighting addiction now. Mr. Shabazz has provided me with the answer.

This work is the tool that I, who have never had an addiction, will use to approach my sibling and convey to them that I see what your going through, I'm here for you... but I won't be abused by you and your not alone.

I thank you Mr. Shabazz for your work and once again this proves that NO prayer is too small that HE won't answer.

Sincerely,
Forever a Greatful reader

A great resource on cats!

First, the book looks at cats in history. As someone who once had cats as family members, I can get excited when I read that (page 17): "The heyday of the domestic cat was certainly in ancient Egypt, where the pets were not only useful members of society, but for almost 2000 years were deified as well." This section provides a nice context of the historical view of cats.

Second, there is a nice encyclopedia of cats, starting on page 39. My friends were a tabby cat and a calico. This lengthy section puts these into a larger context--from lions and tigers to the domestic cat.

Third, for those who have cats, the section on "Cat Care" is very useful indeed. I would commonly open the book to this section when my cats had any problems. The various ailments are well described and, at least to my experience, very helpful. Over time, I experienced with one cat having diabetes (and having to inject her every day), old age (my tabby cat lasted to 19 years of age), an onset of paralysis, what may have been feline leukemia (but was probably not, since both survived nicely), and so on. The encyclopedic coverage of ailments and how to address these was invaluable.

And there are lots of nice photographs of cats!

All in all, I found this a terrific volume to help me with my cats.

Judith A. Steeh wrote this very fine book way back in 1978 and if you are looking for a really excellent book on cats, their history, many breeds, health, care, and joy of their companionship, if you can find a copy, this is definitely the one to get. I really treasure my copy; she has a lot of very valuable information on cat care I have not seen in other books (for instance, what to do if they start foolisg with electric wires -- apply bitter aloe vera or alum). This is a very comprehensive work jam-packed with beautiful color photos. If you only buy one cat book ever, make this the one!

In 1996 Ivan Petrov began telling this his "life story" to C. S. Walton, and what a story indeed it is. The events of his life with never a dull paragraph read like a novel. It is at once a story of a life of poverty in Russia during the time of the former Soviet Union (Petrov was born in 1935), a road memoir, a treatise on homelessness, an account of life in prison (Petrov was in and out of prison for petty crimes usually associated with drinking), and ultimately a sad but never self-pitying commentary on alcoholism. It is every bit as good as the best examples from these genres, notably Woody Guthrie's BOUND FOR GLORY, George Jackson's SOLEDAD BROTHER and Lars Eighner's TRAVELS WITH LISBETH.

As a youngster Petrov lived in Chapaevsk near a prison and a statute of Stalin and by the age of fifteen had been drunk on vodka twelve times. For the rest of his life, as he remembers it, he is never far from "hair-of-the-dog" and the possibility of prison is very real to him. As a child, Petrov is beaten by his stepfather Dobrinin (his father is in prison) but he remembers also his step-grandmother who loved gladioli and asters and French novels.

Petrov's tale is filled with appropriate imagery; and as horrific as some of the events he recounts are, he remembers them often with delightful humor. Midge-bites make mosquitoes "seem as harmless as butterflies." One morning after a night of hard drinking, Petrov feels as if a reindeer herd has spent the night in his mouth. And Soviet railway stations by their warmth and 24 hour beer stands attract tramps [like Petrov] "like wasps to a jamjar." His story of why the mourners at a wake could not identify the meat in dumplings made from a slaughtered cow (the poor, senile cook had gotten one of her breasts ground up in the meat mincer) will make you wince but smile; his account of why another drunk, one Klava, always told time as eight o'clock will make you laugh out loud.

Petrov, although he never completely gets sober-- at least in these pages-- ultimately attempts to find some meaning in his existence and accepts responsibility for the life he has lived. He concludes that you can neither love nor hate people, "when they are all so different." He understands (as do most thinking adults) that he will not set the world on fire. He accepts or becomes "less disturbed" by his physical disability (he has a "crippled leg") and learns that he "could live without a home, possessions or human companionship." Certainly for one who has seen and lived through all the horrors of poverty, alcoholism and homelessness as this man did, Petrov's world view could have been much bleaker. He reminds me of one of Robert Browning's characters who was comforted by what he could have been and did not become.

As I read this fine and thoughtful book, I wondered how Ms. Walton and Mr. Petrov met, did she tape his story, what was the Western country where they met, is he still alive-- he would have been sixty-one when they met-- did he ever get sober?

RUSSIA THROUGH A SHOT GLASS is as fine a memoir as I have read.

The big personal question facing everyone in life is how to live. In the former Soviet Union the choices were none too many. The life and times of Ivan Petrov is a portrayal of state interfence run amok. It's also about a person too far gone to care. Drunk as a skunk and stumbling through the wasteland of the country, Ivan tells it like it was with his eyes bleary and swollen but still wide open. At times, I was horrified reading this book. At other times I laughed out loud. That's the great part about it. Despite his dire cirmcumstances, there was still a sense of humor about his given situation. The whole book speaks to the human condition. It makes you consider your own life and the choices you've made. An excellent primer and first hand look at the former Soveit Union. I loved this book!

Written in a refreshing and unpedantic style, "Just the FAQ's, Please..." is recommended reading for everyone, especially famillies, who want to understand more about alcoholism and drug abuse. It is so entertaining that one hardly reallizes that he is also learning something. I was compelled to finish reading in one sitting once I had begun.

A thoroughly delightful and refreshing treatment of a subject too often ignored or underemphasized, this work is equally at home in a treatment setting, the classroom, while preparing for a lecture, or just plain information seeking. From the title, a barely disguised takeoff on the famous quote from "Dragnet" to the handling of important and sensitive issues like blackouts, hallucinations, family issues, and prevention, this well organized book is written with considerable wit and humor in the style of an engaging stage play. Appeal notwithstanding, however, there is no sacrifice of accuracy made for the sake of humor. The book is right on target in every single area.

What struck me about Raising the Shades was the believeabilty of the youngsters. After teaching middle school for 19 years you realize which students go home to a life like that of the main character. Those students are a joy to teach because they never do anything wrong, but you can feel how brittle they are as they deal with all the ramifications of addiction. Thank you Doug Wilhelm!

This is a great book for adolescents that like to read about solving problems in life. Raising the Shades will show you how one kid handled a problem that a lot of kids wouldn't experience in their every day life. This book holds you in suspense so you have to keep on reading. I liked it very much!

Written by Scott M. Davis M.D. (ASAM-Certified Addiction Medison Physician of the world-renowned Betty Ford Center), Living Jonathan's Life is the chilling true story of identical twin brothers who share the misfortune becoming addicted to narcotic painkillers. Written in first person perspective, Living Jonathan's Life is an engrossing, solid narrative as well as a sharply cautionary tale against the rising popularity of painkillers - drugs that are more easily accessible than ever thanks to the internet, and that have become the drug of choice among teens, even surpassing marijuana. Extensive appendices filled with information for those struggling with or who know friends and families suffering from addiction problems round out this tell-all story, written not only to express grief and pass on life lessons learned, but also to be of immediate aid to any reader who needs it.

Here's a book written from the inside out. An authentic account from someone who's fought the battle and won. Jonathan's Life is a transparent, honest account of the debilitating effects of addiction. This book chronicles a doctor's struggle with loss, pain, trauma, and enlsavement to addiction.

This is the book that every woman with an alcohol problem will identify with. To me the book was almost written as a narrative of this womans life. After years of counseling women, almost every word that was written in this book has been a conversation that I or other women have had about alcoholism.The story is so raw and honest you feel as though you know the author, although of course she has written under a pen name to protect her identity.A really excellent book that grabs you right from the beginning. You can actually open to any page and be drawn in. I would definitly recomend this book.

It is too bad that this book is out of print. I read it 11years ago. At the time I was drinking heavily. Reading thisinspirational story of a young woman stuggling with many of the problems I was struggling with was instumental in my decision to enter treatment. This book deserves to be re-released.

I personally had a hand in the immense task Dick undertook in gathering these materials. We visited Jim Newton in Florida before his death and acquired all Jim's relevant Oxford Group library. Ditto Rev. Willard Hunter in California. And I helped Dick and others display, list, and prepare for shipping the huge library of history that Dick had shelved in the Maui A.A. Research Library in a room set aside for that very purpose. Shelves lined every single wall. Work tables held the groupings. And there were several huge groupings: (1) The huge amount of Oxford Group materials Dick had obtained from Newton, Hunter, MRA leaders and offices, and MRA packrat George Vondermuhll, Jr. (2) The huge Shoemaker collection Dick had obtained from the Shoemaker family, Episcopal Archives, Shoemaker churches, personal journals, and church records. (3) A complete duplicate of all the books in Dr. Bob's Library. (4) The temperance books, the religious books, the evangelism books, the contemporary A.A. and alcoholism books and reviews, and the many stories by alcoholics that were part of AAs' studies and heritage. (5) A complete set of the Big Book Second Edition printings. (6) A large collection of printings of the Third Edition. (7) Forty binders of historical papers. (8) Several huge boxes of tape recordings, including the entire collection of Bill W.'s public talks. (9) A host of similar materials purchased from collectors Danny Whitmore and Dennis Cassidy and elsewhere. (8) Books Dick had personally acquired and used in his research and writings. It's all in this book. And most of it is now lodged, through the generosity of several of Dick's benefactors, in the Griffith Library located adjacent to Bill Wilson's birthplace at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont. The books and materials are there to be studied, copied, posted on the internet, and utlized to help AAs. Their wide variety insures that this is not just a collection that fits some particular collector's fancies. It far exceeds in volume the collection at Brown University, at Stepping Stones, and at Dr. Bob's Home and the Akron archives. And it is far more accessible to those who really want to learn and get well by studying the details of their fellowship history. And doing it in the delightful New England atmosphere of East Dorset, Vermont. It also serves as a backup documentation for the thousands of footnotes and comments in the history books by Dick and others striving for an accurate picture. This compilation is a gem, should be part of every reference library, and can be obtained as part of the reference set of Dick'b books.

I'm a researcher. I'm a student. And I am a Marine Corps vet. I am also an avid reader of the Bible and a believer. I lived with Dick B. for a while before I joined the Marines. Then I was married, and I was stationed in Oahu and frequently saw Dick, his son Ken, an their respective huge libraries; and so did my wife. I helped Dick inventory, prepare for shipment, and ship the 23,900 historical items that he had amassed and assembled on Maui and used in his continuing research and historical publishing. Then much of the material was donated to the Griffith Library at Bill Wilson's birthplace in East Dorset, Vermont. But not before Dick had inventoried the books and materials, the places where they were acquired, the libraries from which they had come, the people who made them available, and their relevance to aspects of A.A. history like the Bible, Jesus Christ, Quiet Time, Dr. Bob and his library, Anne Smith and her journal, the Oxford Group, Sam Shoemaker, New Thought writers, William James, Carl Jung, Dr. Silkworth, the Cleveland materials, the Clarence Snyder materials, materials on alcoholism and addiction and recovery, prayer, healing, guidance, the great mentors of A.A. like the YMCA, Salvation Army, Christian Endeavor, and so on. It's all in this book. It's a reference tool worth having for life. It's a source for historical study. It is a fascinating account of all the elements that fed A.A. It's a well-done bibliography. There's nothing like the content of this book. I'm all for it.