Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure? - Softcover

Bufe, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1884365124 ISBN 13: 9781884365126

Publisher: See Sharp Press, 1998

Synopsis

This well researched, painstakingly documented book provides detailed information on the right-wing evangelical organization (Oxford Group Movement) that gave birth to AA; the relation of AA and its program to the Oxford Group Movement; AA's similarities to and differences from religious cults; AA's remarkable ineffectiveness; and the alternatives to AA. The greatly expanded second edition includes a new chapter on AA's relationship to the treatment industry, and AA's remarkable influence in the media.

About this title

About the Author:

Charles Bufe is coauthor of Resisting 12-Step Coercion and author of The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations and An Understandable Guide to Music Theory.

Review:

Charles Bufe tried AA in 1983, hated it, and kept drinking until 1985, when he achieved sobriety on his own. Clearly, Bufe has something of an ax to grind, but for the most part he grinds it fairly. (At worst, the author's skepticism is no more extreme than the zeal of some AA supporters.) Bufe poses two major questions - Is AA religious? Is it a cult? - and raises some interesting points along the way. He traces the program's religious overtones to the Oxford Group Movement of the 1930s. This movement, he argues, heavily influenced AA founder Bill Wilson. Bufe supports his thesis with detailed, if not always fascinating, quotes and parallels. He concludes that AA is religious, a label sure to rile members who consider their program a secular one. His other conclusion - that AA isn't a cult - is only common sense: AA has no leader, makes no financial demands, and does not use highpressure tactics. Bufe raises a timely point regarding the seemingly endless spin-off groups that have adopted AA's 12 steps as their own. How do victims, such as members of Incest Survivors Anonymous, profit from steps designed for the addicted? Appendices include secular alternatives to AA and the 12 Steps. -- From Independent Publisher

About this edition

• Publisher: See Sharp Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1884365124
• ISBN 13: 9781884365126
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 208