My Name Is Bill by Susan Cheever

I heard about this book on NPR, when Susan Cheever was being interviewed about a more recently published book. Having read several books about about addiction and recovery, I decided to learn a little more about the life of Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The first half of this book was about Bill's early life, and there were many characteristics of his upbringing that probably reinforced his alcoholic tendencies. He was a guy who strove for perfection, never felt comfortable in his own skin, and who had low self esteem and a mother with high expectations. Bill seemed to develop an alcoholism that was in part a product of the puritanical New England world he grew up in.

The later part of the book covered both Bill's evolution as an alcoholic (and ultimately recovering alcoholic) as well as the evolution of the organization that became Alcoholics Anonymous. There was a lot of administrative conflict within the organization which was discussed. As a business person I found the sections around how AA was conceived and the arguments around the mission of AA very interesting.

While the story was inspiring, I was not a fan of Cheever's writing style. She was too poetic at times, and sometimes it seemed like she was working too hard to tell a specific story. Early in the book, she told several anecdotes out of chronological order, which I did not like. These factors made me feel like I should have considered one of the other biographies about Bill that had been written. (I would definitely like to read Bill's wife's biography -- she was the founder of Al-anon.)

As someone whose main exposure to AA was through NYPD Blue episodes, I enjoyed learning about the spirit of the group and some of the thought behind it. I was interested to learn that Bill insisted on anonymity not just to protect the members, but also to protect the organization. There are strong connections between alcoholics and grandiosity, so anonymity removes the potential for fame. Bill himself even turned down an honorary degree from Yale to ensure the validity of AA.

I also enjoyed thinking about what makes meetings effective. Webster suggested it was knowing that you were not alone, and that you were answering to a room of people depending on you. In the book there was also a lot of discussion of the importance in AA of recovering alcoholics helping other people to get sober. There were several years while Bill was starting AA before it was successful when all it was doing was keeping him sober.

This book sparked my curiosity not only about Al-anon, but also to read about how the philosophy of AA translated to Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and the other similar organizations. I was also interested to investigate Cheevers's dismissive treatment of whether AA works for non-religious people. I remember hearing about an organization that was atheistic rather than deistic (like AA) and wonder what percentage of alcoholics recover through the 12-step methods from AA specifically.