FOREWORD TO FOURTH EDITION T - Alcoholics …

1 FOREWORD TO FOURTH EDITIONT hisfourth EDITION of Alcoholics anonymous came off press in November 2001, at the start ofa new millennium. Since the third EDITION was pub-lished in 1976, worldwide membership of has justabout doubled, to an estimated two million or more,with nearly 100,800groups meeting in approximately150countries around the world. Literature has played a major role in s growth,and a striking phenomenon of the past quarter- century has been the explosion of translations of ourbasic literature into many languages and dialects.

2 Incountry after country where the seed wasplanted, it has taken root, slowly at first, then growingby leaps and bounds when literature has become avail-able. Currently, Alcoholics anonymous has beentranslated into forty-three* the message of recovery has reached larger num-bers of people, it has also touched the lives of a vastlygreater variety of suffering Alcoholics . When thephrase We are people who normally would not mix (page 17of this book) was written in 1939, it referredto a Fellowship composed largely of men (and a fewwomen) with quite similar social, ethnic, and eco-nomic backgrounds.

3 Like so much of s basic text,those words have proved to be far more visionary thanthe founding members could ever have imagined. Thestories added to this EDITION represent a membershipwhose characteristics of age, gender, race, and cul-ture have widened and have deepened to encompassxxiii*In 2013, Alcoholics Anonymousis in seventy 11/20/13 3:43 PM Page xxiiivirtually everyone the first 100members could havehoped to our literature has preserved the integrity ofthe message, sweeping changes in society as awhole are reflected in new customs and practiceswithin the Fellowship.

4 Taking advantage of technolog-ical advances, for example, members with com-puters can participate in meetings online, sharing withfellow Alcoholics across the country or around theworld. In any meeting, anywhere, s share experi-ence, strength, and hope with each other, in order tostay sober and help other Alcoholics . Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, s speak the language ofthe heart in all its power and TO FOURTH 11/20/13 3:43 PM Page xxiv