Ninth Tradition February 1971
A Sense of Service September 1998
To Those We Serve September 2013
Paving the Way September 1998
A Patron Saint of AA September 1990
Round and Round We Go September 1992
Steering clear of outside issues allows us to focus on what we do best
Sassy Pearls of Wisdom October 2015
Fatal Distraction October 1992
Spirit of Anonymity January 2011
None of My Business October 2014
Opinions: Yours, Mine and Ours October 1990
Politically Incorrect February 2005
My Father, Myself October 2008
The Beauty of Tradition Ten July 1991
Providing an example of sobriety can be more powerful than promoting AA
Why Should He Get All the Press Instead of Me? November 2002
Put the Coffee On November 2008
The Price of a Postage Stamp November 2008
Self-Promotion, Not Attraction November 2006
The Message, Not Me November 1992
Don’t Be a Stranger December 2009
Mike the Plumber and Airplane Tim? November 2014
Sacrifice is the watchword of anonymity
Scared to Be Seen December 2013
Just Another Drunk August 1981
Making Myself Anonymous December 2008
Saved by the Bell December 2014
Coping with Cliques May 1974
Principles Before My Personality December 1997
Anonymity and Me February 1975
Admirable Simplicity December 1998
Good for Nothing January 1989
Our Protective Mantle December 1992
WELCOME
"For thousands of alcoholics yet to come, A.A. does have an answer. But there is one condition. We must, at all costs, preserve our essential unity; it must be made unbreakably secure. Without permanent unity there can be little lasting recovery for anyone. Hence our future absolutely depends upon the creation and observance of a sound group Tradition."
—AA co-founder Bill W., AA Grapevine, October, 1947
Founded in 1935, AA’s first decade was filled with an array of challenges and with little or no experience to hold onto, AA groups were often flying blind. Rules were made and broken; policies were introduced and soon discarded; and, inevitably, powerful, sometimes bitter, disputes broke out.
But AA was working—alcoholics were getting and staying sober—and soon the growing body of experience from the Fellowship’s pioneering time began to crystallize into a set of working principles that could guide and protect the group life of AA.
In 1946, these core principles were codified by the founders and early members as the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous and were published in the April 1946 Grapevine under the title “Twelve Points to Assure Our Future.” Wrote Bill W., AA’s co-founder, “Nobody invented Alcoholics Anonymous. It grew. Trial and error has produced a rich experience. Little by little we have been adopting the lessons of that experience, first as policy and then as tradition. That process still goes on and we hope it never stops.”
Since then, AA members have had years of experience with the principles outlined in the Twelve Traditions and as the stories in this collection show, those principles remain at the heart of Alcoholics Anonymous, providing ongoing guidance and protection for individuals, groups and the Fellowship as a whole.
Accepted and endorsed by the membership at AA’s International Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950, application of the Traditions continues evolving today, and the stories here share the diverse experience, strength and hope of individual AA members and groups who have found workable solutions to difficult problems through these twelve vital principles.
Based on immutable values such as humility, responsibility, sacrifice and love, the Twelve Traditions provide the spiritual—and practical—underpinning for AA’s ongoing adventure of living and working together. Our hope for this collection of stories, gathered from the broad experience of individual AAs, is that it will provide a pathway for members and groups to learn more about how these vital principles