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Our Great Responsibility
A Selection Of Bill W's General Service Talks 1951 - 1970
270 pages, Paperback
Published April 10, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 13, 2019
certainly has a niche audience, but this book, a compilation of Bill W's talks to AA General Service Conferences over the years offers a fascination insight into how the program has developed over the years
September 21, 2025
Our Great Responsibility - AA
- As an a person that is interested in the history and governance of AA, this book was magnificent. It was literally Bill speaking at the first service conferences. It provided a deep insight into the creation of AA, the traditions, the concepts of world service, and AA governance. As with all AA literature, it was filled with spiritual wisdom. The footnotes have a wealth of historical information and context
- The more I read from Bill the more he is affirmed as one of my favorite writers. He was a deeply flawed man but wise, insightful, humble, gracious, and always trying to fight the demons of his natural negative instincts. People want to present him as a selfish womanizing egoistical asshole, which is partly true. He tenaciously worked to overcome his selfish egotistical instincts. He continually showed grace and selflessness
- There are some brilliant lines on democracy, service, and leadership. A great one is that about how much groups are composed of good people but seem to be governed by bad actors. AA is the rare group that is composed of sick people but governed benevolently. There are lines that are hard refutations against authoritarianism and brilliant odes to democracy. Bill would be a hard anti Trumper
- This is another book that refutes AA fundamentalists. Anyone that tries to rule in AA, that pushes dogma, that creates rules, that puts a barrier between someone and their sobriety, or any other BS is flat out wrong. They are going against clearly articulated AA principles
- AA is not a religion, does not have requirements for membership, does not have rules, or any other absurdity I have heard people say. AA is for anyone that has a desire to quit drinking
- The second tradition was a significant part of the book
- Things I want to know more about
- What is stepping stones
- The story about the person that committed suicide in their house
- The formal history of Al-Anon and its operation. In this book there is a talk by Lois about Al-Anon, she was one of the cofounders, but I would like to know more. I should read Al-Anon literature
- The process of writing other AA books and how the conference responded to them, such as the 12&12, daily reflections, Dr. Bob and The Old Timers, AA Comes Of Age
- They say that in the 50’s Bill stepped away from much of AA life and devoted his time to writing. That he was seen mainly at the yearly service conference. I am not sure what this means, it seems like he was still around headquarters. Was he not even going to meetings?
- There was considerable opposition to the creation of the conference, that is a whole section of the book
- This was a relatively easy read; short chapters, large print, frequent pictures
- I loved this book and highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the history and operations of AA
- I am going to quit writing and take a break. I am on a plane over the Atlantic, flying back from Portugal
- As an a person that is interested in the history and governance of AA, this book was magnificent. It was literally Bill speaking at the first service conferences. It provided a deep insight into the creation of AA, the traditions, the concepts of world service, and AA governance. As with all AA literature, it was filled with spiritual wisdom. The footnotes have a wealth of historical information and context
- The more I read from Bill the more he is affirmed as one of my favorite writers. He was a deeply flawed man but wise, insightful, humble, gracious, and always trying to fight the demons of his natural negative instincts. People want to present him as a selfish womanizing egoistical asshole, which is partly true. He tenaciously worked to overcome his selfish egotistical instincts. He continually showed grace and selflessness
- There are some brilliant lines on democracy, service, and leadership. A great one is that about how much groups are composed of good people but seem to be governed by bad actors. AA is the rare group that is composed of sick people but governed benevolently. There are lines that are hard refutations against authoritarianism and brilliant odes to democracy. Bill would be a hard anti Trumper
- This is another book that refutes AA fundamentalists. Anyone that tries to rule in AA, that pushes dogma, that creates rules, that puts a barrier between someone and their sobriety, or any other BS is flat out wrong. They are going against clearly articulated AA principles
- AA is not a religion, does not have requirements for membership, does not have rules, or any other absurdity I have heard people say. AA is for anyone that has a desire to quit drinking
- The second tradition was a significant part of the book
- Things I want to know more about
- What is stepping stones
- The story about the person that committed suicide in their house
- The formal history of Al-Anon and its operation. In this book there is a talk by Lois about Al-Anon, she was one of the cofounders, but I would like to know more. I should read Al-Anon literature
- The process of writing other AA books and how the conference responded to them, such as the 12&12, daily reflections, Dr. Bob and The Old Timers, AA Comes Of Age
- They say that in the 50’s Bill stepped away from much of AA life and devoted his time to writing. That he was seen mainly at the yearly service conference. I am not sure what this means, it seems like he was still around headquarters. Was he not even going to meetings?
- There was considerable opposition to the creation of the conference, that is a whole section of the book
- This was a relatively easy read; short chapters, large print, frequent pictures
- I loved this book and highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the history and operations of AA
- I am going to quit writing and take a break. I am on a plane over the Atlantic, flying back from Portugal
August 13, 2026
lost this for a full year but eventually finished. i am glad i read it but would not be quick to recommend unless someone was a massive AA nerd. i did learn a lot about early AA history and this prompted me to do a lot of research on bill w (the good bad and ugly) which i did enjoy. also some great stuff about the traditions in here which i have been using when taking sponsees through them.
May 28, 2024
Excellent moving resource
Very thoughtfully written and produced. The last chapter wraps it up beautifully. What a tremendous gift AA is to individuals and our whole society. Wonderful to see something with such a positive impact last for so long.
Very thoughtfully written and produced. The last chapter wraps it up beautifully. What a tremendous gift AA is to individuals and our whole society. Wonderful to see something with such a positive impact last for so long.
January 5, 2023
A very interesting history of the General Service Conference and structuring of Alcoholic’s Anonymous; told in Bill Wilson’s own words from a compilation of his speeches.
December 1, 2019
AA World Services, Inc. brings Archival data to present an excellent history of AA: photographs and other images along with sixteen General Services talks given by Bill W., one of AA's co-founders. Included are talks by nonalcoholic friends. Realizing AA needed something to hold it together after he and Dr. Bob-the other co-founder were gone, he fought to have annual Conferences where the "group conscience," could debate and form tenets. Out of these Conferences came the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions and the Twelve Concepts, all of which stress the Great Responsibilty of all AA's to pass on what has been so freely given to them.
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April 14, 2025Essays. Didn't read in any order. All interesting in seeing how 12 Step thinking is not as obvious as its most ardent proponents would have us believe.
March 1, 2022
Read this with my sponsor, very good
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews