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       About AA and AA Grapevine

Preface

      The forty-two articles in this book are reprinted from AA Grapevine magazine, the Fellowship’s monthly “meeting in print.” Written by AA members out of their own experience, they illuminate the many facets of the AA home group.

      When we first began to narrow down a selection of material, we were using as a working title, “The Home Group: Key to Unity.” Yet in the process of rereading the articles, the need for a broader concept became clear. The home group is where recovery begins; it is where AA members grow up in sobriety by the time-honored process of trial and error, to discover that they can be loved, “warts and all.” It is where they learn to put the needs of others, especially the needs of the group, ahead of their own desires. It is where they first have the opportunity to serve others, and where they learn of opportunities to serve beyond the group. It is where they begin to adopt the guiding principles of Alcoholics Anonymous as working realities in their own sober lives.

      Because this book seeks to illuminate the AA group of today with its unique characteristics, strengths, and problems, most of the articles that follow were chosen from Grapevines published in the 1980s and 1990s. The few older articles are those that state timeless principles or that reflect customs and insights from earlier AA times that add a valuable dimension to present-day situations.

      — THE EDITORIAL STAFF

Foreword to the Second Edition

      Originally created, as one of the founding editors put it, to “promote harmony among groups,” AA Grapevine has been a forum where AA members can discover how other groups set up meetings, help newcomers, and make themselves of service to AA at large since 1944. The first edition of this book, published in 1993, continued that tradition, sharing the ups and downs experienced by groups throughout the United States and Canada. It proved so useful that readers asked Grapevine to create a special department on this topic, and “The Home Group” debuted in the September 2000 issue. The response was overwhelming, the editors reported. Manuscripts flooded the office from members eager to share their gratitude and affection for their home groups, as well as the wisdom they had gained from their own participation and service as members. “The Home Group” has been a much-appreciated department in the magazine ever since.

      We are pleased to be able to share eight new stories from that department in this edition of The Home Group to provide an up-to-date portrait of today’s AA groups, along with some of the experience, strength, and hope of groups from the past. We hope you find all the stories here useful and that you will continue to share your own stories and observations in future issues of Grapevine in print or online at www.aagrapevine.org.