| "How Alcoholics Anonymous Failed Me: My Personal Journey to Sobriety Through Self-Empowerment" by Marianne W. Gilliam Even after I had long-since discovered the lacking within the program of AA, I still had all the requisite Catholic school boy worries of speaking out against it. I also had been so completely buffaloed by a few particular folks and a then-believed need for companionship that I wasn't even capable of articulating why I felt a lot of the discomfort and anxiety with the group's practices. When I found Marianne's book, it was when I was struggling to decide what to do; I felt so alone and yet I was diametrically opposed to AA's beliefs and practices. This book helped me to better articulate the reasonable apprehensions regarding the group, as well as make a decision for my own welfare. Marianne's book is tremendous not only because she expertly delineates why the organization's approach is flawed (and the negative impact it has,) but because she also does so without a fiery, rhetorical splash that could be easily dismissed as bitterness (even though the book's suggestive title deceptively doesn't reflect that!) Of course, for AA apologists, anything that doesn't sing the praises and promote the agenda is an 'evil lie.' She's moderate and good natured and works out how her journey took her elsewhere, and how her health, happiness, spirituality, and sobriety did not need to be tied up in the 12 Step model to be achieved or maintained. Fascinating stuff, whether you are yourself in recovery, faced addiction in the past, have a loved one suffering from it, or have lost someone to the cult of AA. Or perhaps you have had questions and concerns about the group simmering for some time, afraid to voice them and view the dirt under the carpet. http://www.amazon.com/How-Alcoholics-Failed-Me-Self-Empowerment/dp/0688170137 ********************************************** | |
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