An Illustrated Alcoholic Anonymous Bibliography

I did absolutely nothing that was in any way abusive, incorrect, or promotional.

I was banned by one man, Glenn Chesnut,
in an arbitrary, insulting, abrupt way—without any reasonable justification.

All should desire to see
Glenn Chestnut Moderator Yahoo AA History Lovers as Moderator Emeritus

Someone who purports to be the moderator of A forum posting site and someone else who uses the name AWUH decided to write insolent replies to my post. Their problem is that they didn't take the time to learn the facts before they wrote.
The Big Book calls this "contempt prior to investigation."
(Editor LDP: I am not sure to which site or post Dick B is Referring to here
in this first paragraph)

If I post, I can expect contempt now and then.
Contempt prior to investigation is another matter entirely.

Here are the facts:

The owner of http://www.aabibliography.com has been a long and consistent contributor to all kinds of history about A.A. And for many years.

I have no connection whatever with his website or him although he has posted a number of items about me - as well as other historians like Mel Barger, Ernest Kurtz, and many others. He has also gathered and posted a large number of books and articles germane to A.A. history.

However, apparently he decided--when he learned that I was distributing free cases of A.A. history books (350 cases)--to tell aa history lovers about the opportunity. He didn't notify me in advance or ask my permission or receive any request from me.

Instead, he was told by the owner of that site - Glenn Chesnut - that I was headed for a nursing home, was turning my 20 years of research over to one of my sons, and was trying to "Christianize" A.A.

Then Chesnut banned the contributor from his website and told him members would be "furious" if he listed anything pertaining to Dick B.

I have no connection whatever with A.A. history lovers. I don't surf it. I don't use it. I don't like one or two of the members because of their close-mindedness, but I know and like dozens of the others. And I have never met Glenn Chesnut.

I have protested the affront to the owner of aabibliography because I oppose censorship of A.A. history, and Glenn Chesnut has claimed he has most of the leading historians connected with his site. If he does, I am not surprised that several of them--who are my friends--have written me regretting Glenn's intemperate and arbitrary acts.

To close the matter, live and let live. Onward to the history lovers. Onward to aabibliography. And let the dead bury their dead.

I’m glad to see your revised announcement about A.A. History Lovers.
Chesnut deserves every statement you made because your
statements are truthful and his attitude is vicious and harmful to AAs.

I surely appreciate your full statement of the Glenn Chesnut libel. Also my response. That poor gentleman seems to know little if anything about truthfulness, tolerance, and taming his tongue. If he did, he’d be reading Dr. Bob’s remarks and the lessons in the Book of James which were so popular in A.A. itself.

Yes, I will write the story of how Nancy O’s censorship began. I never met the lady, never communicated with her except for the one time she told me she was banning me because Ernest Kurtz had told her my work lacked integrity and said I was “preaching” in my books. She said she wanted a “safe” site. Safe? Safe from the truth? Safe from all the facts? Safe for whatever purpose Ernest Kurtz had in trying to promote “not-god-ness” as the theme of A.A. and repeatedly calling me an “amateur,” a “hobbyist,” and a few other niceties. Finally, after two or three aa history lovers criticized Kurtz for his remarks, he actually apologized to me—something I don’t expect Glenn Chesnut ever to do, and something which Nancy—may she rest in peace—went to her grave with. What a heavy price these angry, jealous, envious, vindictive people pay for the privilege of having a few people read their books and listen to their views. Keep going, L.D. It is one thing to lie and misrepresent facts to your friends and your forum. It is quite another to libel, slander, and lie to anyone who comes along. And believe me, L.D., you and I are not the only ones so attacked. There are others who have been humiliated and disgraced by the acid tongues of these folks. What they do is neither godly, nor truthful, nor just. It’s a disgrace. And I’m glad to see you unearthing it. I sure have publicized your site in every way possible in recent weeks. And I will continue to do so as I have anyway for so many years.

What you are seeing is neither A.A. nor history nor useful to a newcomer. It is simply uncontrolled venting by frustrated egotists.

By the way, L.D., I think it is appropriate for you to address Glenn Chesnut directly and demand a retraction from him of his lying statements and demand an apology from him for his damaging attack on your reputation. He can’t put a fence around the world, and his deceitful back-biting deserve to be reprimanded. Either he espouses the 10^th Step or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, you should tree him and gain an admission that he doesn’t practice the principles. If he does, it’s more than time for him to apologize, make amends, make restitution, and publically retract the lies.

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, but I'm not at all surprised. Another friend of mine also got banned from the AA History Lovers yahoo group for mentioning bits of history that they didn't want to hear about, like the 100 Men Corporation.

The AAHL group isn't really a history group, it's a mythology group where they demand that people repeat the old legends and myths in the approved orthodox manner, or else.

A.A. "Conference Approved" Extract from aabibliography.com

Not long ago, Glenn Chesnut, who publishes Hindsfoot Foundation items, wrote an article on why the A.A. "Conference Approved" shibboleth does not, cannot, and should not bar freedom of expression in A.A. Chesnut is also the moderator of the so-called aahistorylovers. And it was Chesnut who recently barred from his forum aabibliography which published the following article - one that generously mentions Chesnut's position.

Here is the extract on censorship - taken from www.aabibliography.com

What “Conference Approved” Literature Means

"Please post this much needed article from Pete's Stuff. It incorporates the long-ignored Box 459 article that GSO said it couldn't find. If you want to see an excellent and much longer discussion of this, go to the Hindsfoot Foundation site where Professor Glenn Chesnut lays it all out in terms of its importance. I receive questions about this all the time; and people at conferences, Central Offices, and meetings are confronted with the conference approved nonsense with great frequency. Any AA can read anything any time anywhere for any purpose. There is no Tradition that says otherwise. There is no Tradition that can or should or will censor or censure what is presented at a meeting. And if someone thinks they've found the mythical tradition, tell them the Traditions are not laws, are not binding on anyone, and were never intended to prohibit free speech or freedom of religion by AAs or others. Those who suggest otherwise just don't know A.A. Nor do they know that early Alcoholics Anonymous was a Christian Fellowship, studied the King James Version of the Bible, read all kinds of literature--Protestant, Roman Catholic, New Thought, medical, and otherwise, and put out reams and reams of pamphlets and guides as the years went by. Included were pamphlets from many Central Offices and Intergroups--including the long-running Cleveland Central Bulletin, the four Akron AA pamphlets, The Four Absolutes, Then there were other writers mentioned below and not mentioned below--Clarence Snyder, Sister Ignatia, Marty Mann, Father Pfau, Richmond Walker, Ed Webster, and on-and-on.Not to forget over 500 Oxford Group and Sam Shoemaker books and pamphlets that were read and circulated byDr. Bob himself. And let's not forget that the most ignored and suppressed writing of all - Anne Smith's Journal - contained the heart of early A.A. and was discussed almost every morning at the Smith home Quiet Times.
Take off the shackles, and use your mind! Better still, see what someone else has had to say. Particularly, the Creator in what He revealed in His Word. Our basic ideas came from there.
My recent title Making Known the Biblical History and Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous specifically identifies hundreds and hundreds of writings that have contributed to the origins, history, founding, principles, and practices of A.A. in just the few years it has been in existence: http://www.dickb.com/makingknown.shtml
God Bless, Dick B. http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml; http://www.dickb-blog.com; http://aa-history.com/bookstore.
dickb@dickb.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What “Conference Approved” Literature Means

GSO Box 4-5-9 1978
(Volume 23, No 4)
Any literature that pertains to the principles of AA or is approved by a Group Conscience - is perfectly acceptable to be read by any AA member or in an AA meeting.

You hear it in meetings, “…we have AA Approved Literature available for sale at cost…”

You hear it in group conscience meetings “…we should only allow readings from AA Approved Literature…”

You hear non-group members crosstalking in a meeting when someone reads from Richmond Walkers’ 24 Hours a Day, Emmet Fox’s Sermon On The Mount, or one of Ralph Pfau’s Golden Books –“You can’t read that in an AA meeting – it’s NOT AA Approved Literature…”

Factually, unlike Alanon, there is no such thing as AA Approved Literature. The early AA’s read from the Bible, the Upper Room, Oswald Chambers, Cecil Rose, Leslie Weatherhead, Sam Shoemaker, Emmet Fox, Richmond Walker, Ralph Pfau and many others – a simple visit to Dickb.com will bear this out. As Dick B. aptly points out “Whatever some may think, A.A. has no index of forbidden books.”

In the 1950’s AA World Services took over WORKS publishing’s rights to publish the Big Book and began publishing other books as well. In the course of the next 40 years AAWS began to publish more books but eventually lost the copyright on the first two editions of the Big Book. Until 1993 books which were owned and printed by AAWS were identified by the use of a Circle/Triangle Symbol bearing the three legacies.

On May 21, 1993 , an AA World Service Ad Hoc committee released an unsigned document titled: Follow-up Statement Regarding Use of the Circle/ Triangle Symbol. In it, AAWS stated that Alcoholics Anonymous will phase out the 'official' use of the circle and triangle symbol in and on its literature, letterheads and other material. That document was issued without a conference action or a group conscience.

The term “Conference Approved” literature now replaces the Circle/Triangle Logo to merely “identify” (AAGV Vol. 50-7 1993) the books solely owned and published by AAWS and not as a predetermined list. The most definitive illustration of this is that the public domain first edition of the Big Book is NOT “Conference Approved”. “Conference Approved” in no way constitutes a list of any written documents of which an AA body approves or disapproves. (Please see the ad hoc committee Final Report of the 1993 General Service Conference)

A formal statement concerning the Conference, the G.S.O, and what AA members read was issued by the General Services Office of AA in 1978.

“WHAT CONFERENCED-APPROVED MEANS”

GSO Box 4-5-9 1978
(Volume 23, No 4)

AA’s General Service Office said:

“It does not mean the Conference disapproves of any other publications. Many local A.A. central offices publish their own meeting lists. A.A. as a whole does not oppose these, any more than A.A. disapproves of the Bible or any other publications from any source that A.A.’s find useful.

What any A.A. member reads is no business of G.S.O., or of the Conference, naturally.” "

Below Old Oxford Group Books
recommend by Dick B AA historian
now available for download

Philosophy of Courage by Philip Leon, (pdf)
Philip Leon, philosopher and Oxford Group member, published this work in 1939, when the AA Big Book was first printed. Leon’s take on Oxford Group ideas is helpful in understanding both what AA took from the OG, and what we left behind. Because it is a philosophical and theological work, The Philosophy of Courage.

Soul Surgery by Howard Walter (pdf)
Originally published in 1919, this book is the result of collaboration between Frank Buchman and Howard Walter, Buchman’s associate and a missionary in India. The subject of Soul Surgery is “personal work,” also called “personal evangelism.’” It criticizes mass evangelism as superficial, and contends that real religious change happens only when two people sit down together and are totally honest with one another.
It is possible to read Soul Surgery as an essay on Twelfth-Step work. Walter’s suggestions for the personal evangelist all apply to those of us who serve others as sponsors. The religious language here is very strong, but the underlying spirituality is equally strong and fully compatible with the Steps. The basic message of Soul Surgery is this: we grow spiritually only by helping others along the same path.

What is the Oxford Group?, by A Layman with a Notebook (pdf)
While Soul Surgery outlines the Group’s method of personal work, What is the Oxford Group? examines the Group’s full range of practices. In the book’s discussion of the Four Absolutes, we find the precursor of inventory. Likewise, the chapters on surrender, restitution, and Guidance are clearly what AA adopted as the Third Step, amends, and the Eleventh Step, respectively. What is the Oxford Group? serves as an excellent introduction to Oxford Group thought and practice, and could almost serve as a pre-step Step guide for those interested in working with the roots of Twelve Step spirituality.

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All Beginners (and all interested parties) Should Own Read Study
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