Anatomy And Anatomy Book Review

Anatomy and Physiology Term Project

Book Review

Francesca Korte

Alcoholism is a dominant disease in my family. When I was in middle school, my grandmother broke her sobriety after numerous years and had to be hospitalized. The events that took place in between the breaking of her sobriety and her hospitalization left me angry. I was totally exposed to alcoholism. As I was relatively young at the time, I had difficulty understanding how alcoholism was considered a disease. I just assumed that if you liked to drink a little more than the average person, then you should stop drinking. As simple as that. I didn’t understand the dependency, both mentally and physically, that could develop.

Eventually, I came to terms with alcoholism. I learned of Alcoholics Anonymous—even went to a few meetings—and my grandmother regained her sobriety. With age, I grew to understand what alcoholism really meant and how nasty the disease really is. A few years ago, I was sifting through my grandmother’s books, attempting to help her organize them. I came across My Name Is Bill. I vaguely remembered that my mom had given the book to her for Christmas one year, and I became intrigued. I took the book and only until this project did I allow myself the time to read it.

My Name Is Bill was written by Susan Cheever and was published in 2004 by the Washington Square Press. The biography tells the story of Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is comprised of personal letters, diary entries, AA archives, and interviews to give more insight into, “the life...of a man who changed the way the world deals with addiction.” (Chicago Sun-Times). The account is broken up into four parts: his childhood in rural Vermont, his perio...

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..., pursued a spiritual remedy for his alcoholism. They began working together to help other alcoholics. By 1938, about 100 alcoholics had become sober. In order to promote their recovery program, the Oxford Group decided to publish a book and chose Bill as the primary author. It was titled Alcoholics Anonymous and included the Twelve Steps, a list of suggested activities for spiritual growth. From there on, Alcoholics Anonymous, as a group, grew exponentially. As Cheever’s writes on page 38, “in hindsight, it seems as if [Bill’s] experience...[was] a systematic preparation for his role as cofounder of Alcoholic’s Anonymous and its principle writer.” He was, and is, considered to be the “chosen one” by people in AA. They truly believe that he is a vessel of God, and the impact that he has had on the lives of millions of addicts worldwide is proof of just that.