The Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous

The Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous

This article relates to The River Is Waiting

Wally Lamb's novel The River Is Waiting centers on the experiences of Corby Ledbetter, who is responsible for an unthinkable accident while intoxicated. Addicted to alcohol and lorazepam (an anti-anxiety medication in the benzodiazepine family), Ledbetter begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings to help him remain clean and sober.

The history of Alcoholics Anonymous began with the Oxford Group, a non-denominational (but explicitly evangelical) Christian organization founded by Pennsylvanian Frank Buchman in 1921 (though it was originally called A First Century Christian Fellowship and was renamed the Oxford Group in 1931). Buchman was struggling with an all-consuming anger with a group of business associates, but on a trip to England he had a spiritual awakening that allowed him to release his rage and move on. In telling others about this conversion experience, he inspired them to likewise change their lives, and a movement was born. He developed the Oxford Group around four "absolutes"—honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love—and stressed spiritual surrender, making amends for wrongdoing against others, and seeking divine guidance for all decisions.

By the mid-1930s the Oxford Group had become quite popular in the United States, with branches across the country. William Griffith Wilson, a New York stockbroker, managed to become sober by attending meetings and by teaching the group's principles to others. On May 12, 1935, Wilson was in Akron, Ohio, for a business deal that didn't go well, leaving him depressed and dejected and just about to succumb to the lure of alcohol. Rather than sit at the hotel bar, however, he started calling other members of the Oxford Group, eventually reaching Akron surgeon Robert H. Smith, another recovering alcoholic. The pair met, and their planned fifteen minute conversation lasted five hours.

The two men bonded over their shared experiences in trying to overcome their addictions. They began working together to help alcoholics at Akron's City Hospital, one of whom was Bill Dotson, a lawyer. Dotson became the first person to join Wilson and Smith, and together the three formed the nucleus of what would become Alcoholics Anonymous. (Dotson's conversion is immortalized in the painting, Man on the Bed, created by an artist known only as Robert M. for AA Grapevine, the international AA journal.)

Three groups were initially formed, in Akron, New York, and Cleveland, and by 1939 100 newly sober alcoholics were members spread across the three founding groups. It became clear that if they were to thrive they needed to establish a program that others could follow. Very early on it was decided that anonymity would be an important part of meetings, both to shield participants from the stigma associated with alcoholism and to protect their careers. Bill Wilson wrote a book called Alcoholics Anonymous (and also referred to as "the Big Book"), which contained the Twelve Steps for which AA is well-known. The book also contained the personal stories of thirty AA members. It was the first time the phrase "Alcoholics Anonymous" was used, and consequently many cite April 10, 1939, the book's date of publication, as AA's anniversary. The Big Book has been revised many times over the years but it's still an important part of the organization's mission.

The group's popularity surged as newspapers and magazines began to run features about the program. In 1939, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a series of articles that resulted in AA's Cleveland chapter expanding from about 20 members to somewhere around 500. Another big jump came in 1941 when The Saturday Evening Post published an article entitled "Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others." By 1950, the group is thought to have inspired over 100,000 people to sobriety.

Exact numbers are unavailable, but in 2020 it was estimated that AA had over two million members in more than 120,000 groups worldwide. It's also inspired other "anonymous" groups that support people who struggle with addictive behaviors such as Gambler's Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Food Addicts Anonymous, as well as organizations to help those who have addicts in their lives, such as Al-Anon and Adult Children of Alcoholics.

Filed under Cultural Curiosities

This "beyond the book article" relates to The River Is Waiting. It originally ran in December 2025 and has been updated for the May 2026 paperback edition. Go to magazine.