Foreword to Fourth Edition

This fourth edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” came off press in November 2001 , at the start of a new millennium. Since the third edition was pub-lished in 1976 , worldwide membership of A.A. has just about doubled, to an estimated two million or more, with nearly 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150countries around the world. Literature has played a major role in A.A.’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. Incountry after country where the A.A. seed wasplanted, it has taken root, slowly at first, then growingby leaps and bounds when literature has become avail-able. Currently, “Alcoholics Anonymous” has been translated into forty-three *languages. As the message of recovery has reached larger num- bers of people, it has also touched the lives of a vastly greater variety of suffering alcoholics. When thephrase “We are people who normally would not mix”(page 17of this book) was written in 1939 , it referred to a Fellowship composed largely of men (and a fewwomen) with quite similar social, ethnic, and eco-nomic backgrounds. Like so much of A.A.’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 membership whose characteristics—of age, gender, race, and cul-ture—have widened and have deepened to encompass xxiii*In 2013 , Alcoholics Anonymous is in seventy languages. virtually everyone the first 100 members could have hoped to reach. While our literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A. message, sweeping changes in society as awhole are reflected in new customs and practices within the Fellowship. Taking advantage of technolog-ical advances, for example, A.A. members with com-puters can participate in meetings online, sharing withfellow alcoholics across the country or around theworld. In any meeting, anywhere, A.A.’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, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.