Product Description
Ten years ago, Dick B. regarded this comprehensive volume of research and writing as his magnum opus. The reason is that its 776 pages brought together his detailed discoveries about the major historical roots of the A.A. movement–the Bible, the Oxford Group, Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s writings, Dr. Bob’s Library, Anne Smith’s Journal, and the religious literature early AAs read. The work was quickly acclaimed by the many scholars and AAs who read and endorsed it. And Dick believed he had covered the waterfront as to the spiritual history of early A.A. Certainly he had covered it in a way that no prior history had even approached in depth, content, and scope. Thus for those who wanted and want an accurate composite of the major contributing religious and spiritual factors that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, this is the appropriate reference source. It has, in fact, been used to teach classes, fill academic library spots, and educate those interested in spiritual recovery. But there was to be much more. As time and research continued, Dick delved into the nooks and crannies and came up recently with some 16 wellsprings of A.A. roots and ideas. The discovery neither negated nor outdated the contents of Turning Point. It simply made the picture more clear and detailed. Thus Dick’s later books took several new turns: First, he looked into the actual cure situation in early A.A.; and he also looked into the origins and meaning of the so-called nonsense gods; that had developed in A.A. These absurd creations began calling a so-called higher power; a Coke bottle, a tree, a chair, a radiator, a light bulb, Something,Somebody,Gertrude, the Great Pumpkin, Santa Claus, and many many other idolatrous creations. Next, Dick looked more deeply into the individuals who had contributed ideas that became embedded in A.A. and even spawned some of the absurd names, half-baked prayers, and self-made religion (as A.A. co-founder Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker characterized them for AAs). The individuals included William James, Carl Jung, Emmet Fox, Richard Peabody, William D. Silkworth, and others. In turn, this quest led him to other movements that had contributed to A.A.’s development both before and after 1935–United Christian Endeavor Society, Young Men’s Christian Association, the Gospel rescue missions, the Salvation Army, and others. Dick then turned to writing books that would explain to AAs and others exactly how to utilize the history and founding sources to achieve recovery today. And at present, he has turned to biographical materials about Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob that will explain the source of their own particular ideas and practices as those were transmitted into the early A.A. program–conversion, Bible studies, prayer meetings, morning meditation, and even revival techniques. The search and research go on. But Turning Point remains the turning point that describes in much detail how the early AAs turned to the one, true, living God for the solution to their problems, and used His Word to tell them more.
#1 by Zulu Warrior on November 29, 2009 - 10:48 pm
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1. The Twelve Steps do not work as a program of recovery from drug or alcohol problems.
o The A.A. failure rate ranges from 95% to 100%. Sometimes, the A.A. success rate is actually less than zero, which means that A.A. indoctrination is positively harmful to people, and prevents recovery. Some tests have shown that even receiving no treatment at all for alcoholism is much better than receiving A.A. treatment:
o One of the most enthusiastic boosters of Alcoholics Anonymous, Professor George Vaillant of Harvard University, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), showed by his own 8 years of testing of A.A. that A.A. was worse than useless — that it didn’t help the alcoholics any more than no treatment at all, and it had the highest death rate of any treatment program tested — a death rate that Professor Vaillant himself described as “appalling”. While trying to prove that A.A. treatment works, Professor Vaillant actually proved that A.A. kills. After 8 years of A.A. treatment, the score with Dr. Vaillant’s first 100 alcoholic patients was: 5 sober, 29 dead, and 66 still drinking.
(Nevertheless, Vaillant is still a Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he still wants to send all alcoholics to A.A. anyway, to “get an attitude change by confessing their sins to a high-status healer.” That is cult religion, not a treatment program for alcoholism.)
o The A.A. dropout rate is terrible. Most people who come to A.A. looking for help in quitting drinking are appalled by the narrow-minded atmosphere of fundamentalist religion and faith-healing. The A.A. meeting room has a revolving door. The therapists, judges, and parole officers (many of whom are themselves hidden members of A.A. or N.A.) continually send new people to A.A., but those newcomers vote with their feet once they see what A.A. really is. Even A.A.’s own triennial surveys, conducted by the A.A. headquarters (the GSO), say that:
81% of the newcomers are gone within 30 days,
90% are gone in 3 months, and
95% are gone at the end of a year.
That automatically gives A.A. a failure rate of at least 95%. But the GSO does not count all of those people who only attend a few meetings before quitting — they don’t qualify as “members”. (That amounts to “cherry-picking”.) If we included them, then the numbers would be much worse.
First there is the propaganda technique of “everybody’s doing it”: “AA or a similar Twelve-Step program is an integral part of almost all successful recoveries”.
That is a complete falsehood. The vast majority of the successful people recover without A.A. or any “support group”. It’s what “everybody” is doing.
Then they use the propaganda techniques of use of the passive voice and vague suggestions: “It is widely believed that not including a Twelve-Step program in a treatment plan can put a recovering addict on the road to relapse.”
It is widely believed by whom? And what do those unnamed people know? What are their qualifications? Are they doctors? Medical school professors? Or salesmen for a 12-Step treatment center? Why should we care what some unnamed invisible fools allegedly believe, anyway?
The authors also use the propaganda technique of fear-mongering: you will be “on the road to relapse” — you will probably die — unless you practice Bill Wilson’s Twelve Step cult religion.
And then the fluff-headed Pollyanna attitude is outrageous: Just going to the wonderful A.A. meetings is supposedly all that is needed to fix some alcoholics.
But since A.A. has a zero-percent success rate above and beyond the normal rate of spontaneous remission, that cannot possibly be true.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Daxton Lyon on November 30, 2009 - 12:07 am
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Dick B. was researching and writing books on the history of A.A. long before I met and knew him. He was methodically examining and reporting each of the diverse roots of A.A.–the Bible, Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, the Oxford Group, Anne Smith’s Journal, Quiet Time and meditation, and the books early AAs Read. But there came a time when he felt it should all be pulled together along with a great deal of historical add-ons he had found and gathered from Stepping Stones, A.A.’s GSO office, Hartford Seminary, Princeton, the Wilson House, Dr. Bob’s Home, and individual survivors. There was a big hole in the history. And this monumental history by Dick has done much to fill what one Roman Catholic priest called the A.A. historical “lacuna” or gap. It’s an admirable, useful, readable, and valuable A.A. history reference book. I consider it tops.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by John Albert Hill Jr. on November 30, 2009 - 12:25 am
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After several years of A.A. participation, Bible study, and associating with Dick B., I’m now reviewing all of his 30 published titles. Often for a second time. The reason is that my own mind is now clearer and more receptive and better at understanding the detailed histories Dick B. writes. Take a look at Turning Point. And then take a look at several of the other historical books on the recovery store shelves. What’s distinctive about Turning Point? Here are a few observations: (1) It covers ALL A.A.’s spiritual roots Dick had investigated and found by the time Dick wrote it. (2) Instead of omitting history, literature, and people of controversy, Dick reported whatever he found–Bible, Christian, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Oxford Group, medical, psychological, New Thought, Unity, atheist, secular, universal–all. (3) Dick’s work was not based just on what he had “heard” from some oldtimer; it was based on what he had seen, read, collected, and received from folks like the children of Dr. Bob and Anne, Henrietta Seiberling, T. Henry Williams, Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and a host of eye-witness reporters like Parks Shipley, Grace Snyder, Garth Lean, Michel Hutchinson, Ken Belden, Howard Blake, Willard Hunter, Jim Houck, Julia Harris, Jim and Ellie Newton, and more. (4) This book was not the end of the trail; it marked the point Dick had reached in the 1990’s and invited much more research–which actually did follow. (5) Like most of Dick’s books, it contained a huge, reliable bibliography. (6) It included historical gems that had been stored away at Stepping Stones, attics, private holdings, and universities. (7) It had not been edited, censored, shortened, or peer-reviewed though it was endorsed by several heavy-hitters in the field. (8) It was written by an “insider”–an active, recovered, AA who had sponsored dozens of people and taken them through the Twelve Steps. Dick observes the anonymity tradition but openly reports, anonymously, his own deep involvement in the trenches of alcoholism, addiction, and A.A.
To sum up, this book is tops. It should be at the top of your A.A. history shelf, your 12 Step recovery shelf, your Christian roots shelf, and your Bible reference shelf. I highly commend it for these and other reasons.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Steven J. Murray on November 30, 2009 - 1:00 am
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I have worked in the substance abuse field for over 15 years, as a therapist, but I am also a recovering alcoholic and sponsor many men in a 12-Step program. When I first read this book I couldn’t believe my eyes. It opened them to a fresh perspective on maintaining my sobriety. Since then, I require all my sponsee’s to read this book. Dick B. has captured a time in history that was long forgotten and the truth of which was lost in the desk drawers, churches, and other places of the 12-Step Pioneers. The amazing part of this book is the fact that by reading it, one can read the history and methods used to sustain a 75%-93% success rate, and attain a simular outcome for themselves and when working with others. It truly deserves to be a part of everyones recovery- it will bring anyone who reads it to a deeper and more peaceful state of sobriety. I can’t state the following with more adamant, that, the program of recovery is a program of action- so get into action and read this book, and then put into practice the original program that had such an amazing success with hopeless drunks. You will be forever thankful you did this. Thanks Dick for saving my life and the lives of those who I work with.
Sincerely,
Rev. Stephen J. Murray, MCRC / NICD Director
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by John Hill IV on November 30, 2009 - 3:13 am
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I’ve watched Dick work with alcoholics, bring people to Christ, study the Word of God, and teach the 12 Steps and Big Book in their historical context. I’ve also seen and personally helped him gather many of his research materials, particularly those from James and Eleanor Newton. This monumental work, not the last or the latest or even the last to come, is still his finest and most comprehensive history of A.A.’s biblical roots. There is nothing like it, and it is very helpful to Christians looking at, into, or out of Alcoholics Anonymous and toward the Bible
Rating: 5 / 5