“Men of genius conceive their best projects when drunk“, Wall Street analyst William Griffin Wilson once told his anxious wife. But his truly best idea came to him in 1935, six months into a hard-won sobriety. That’s when “Bill W.” kept himself from slipping back into alcoholism by confiding his condition to a fellow Vermonter who was fighting the same battle.
From this simple encounter in 1935 – two drunks confessing themselves “powerless over alcohol” but resolving to stay dry one day at a time – the organization known as Alcoholics Anonymous was launched. And in the wake of its success came a flotilla of self-supporting self-help groups intended to combat gambling, drug using, overeating and personal demons of all kind.