Bill W: My First 40 Years - An Autobiography [Hardcover]

This is an autobiography of Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of AA. It is an edited transcript of recordings he made during September, 1954, at the Hotel Bedford in the company of a man named Ed Bierstadt. The book contains interesting anecdotes on Bill's first forty years of life. The purpose of his recording these stories was to describe his childhood development and how it related to his personality development and subsequent descent into alcoholism. It ends abruptly at his speech before the Oxford Group. The Afterword briefly describes the ensuing thirtysix years and contains many footnotes referring to other books of interest about Bill W and the history of AA. This book is very refreshing and avoids the controversies that plague so many of the other biographies recently published. To read the account of Bill's spiritual experience again, in his own words, is extremely compelling. There are also several appendices which flesh out many of the references in the story.

I first encountered the contents of this transcript when I was researching at Stepping Stones, and I was astonished at the material about Bill Wilson, Dr. Silkworth, and Bill's rebirth and talk of the "Great Physician."

Many years later, I learned that Hazelden had published this material just as it was originally transcribed.
It has been of extraordinary importance in my extensive work on Bill Wilson and his early days at the Wilson House, his birthplace at East Dorset, Vermont. Also of his family's relationship with the little East Dorset Congregational Church that lies between the Wilson House and the Griffith Library--where some 23,000 of my research materials are now located. And also of my work at Burr & Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont where Bill attended for four years, went to daily chapel, weekly services at Manchester Congregational Church, Bible studies and took a four year Bible study while there. At Burr and Burton, Bill was president of the YMCA; and his girl friend Bertha Brandford was president of the YWCAThe Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator's Role in Early A.A.

Then came Hazelden's recently published biography of Dr. Silkworth. "The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks." Once again, the pieces about Bill Wilson's conversion at Calvary Rescue Mission in New York and his "white light" experience at Towns Hospital fit into the whole picture of Bill's early focus on the "Great Physician" Jesus Christ, Silkworth's advice that the "Great Physician" could cured him, and Bill's decision to ask the "Great Physician" for help at Towns Hospital.Silkworth: The Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks the Biography of William Duncan Silkworth, M.D.

Add these three (Bill W., My First Forty Years; Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.; and Dale Mitchel, Silkworth, the Little Doctor Who Loved Drunks; and you only need one more to get a picture of Bill Wilson's youngster days, his religious background, his relationship with Dr. Silkworth, his experience with Ebby Thacher, and his remarkable experiences thereaftter at Calvary Mission and Towns Hospital. The additional resource is William Borchert's Lois Wilson StoryThe Lois Wilson Story - Hallmark: When Love Is Not Enough [Paperback]. Here is the document that contains deep research into Bill's wife Lois and her recollections of Bill, Dr. Silkworth, Ebby, Calvary Mission, the "white light" experience, and Bill's feverish initial witnessing after discharge--with a Bible under his arm, and his message: "The Lord has cured me..." See page 191 of the 4th Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This is the story of AA co-founder Bill Wilson's first forty years of life set forth in his own words recorded at the Hotel Bedford during September, 1954. He is assisted by Ed Bierstadt. The book is a wonderful compilation of anecdotes told in Bill's own words in an effort to shed light upon how his experiences led to his personality development which contributed to his fall into alcoholism. It is refreshing and free of controversial arguments found in some of the more recent biographies. The description of his spiritual experience once again by the man himself is very uplifting. The afterword and appendices nicely flesh out this historical account of this truly special man to whom so many owe their lives.

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