Welcome to Decoding the Big Book, a special limited series of the Sober Friends podcast.

Researched and sourced from writing the big book by William Sheaberg,

the purpose of each episode is to provide context and history for each chapter of the Big

Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, followed by a

reading of the chapter from the fourth edition. Each section is marked by chapters, so feel

free to skip ahead to what you're interested in and leave the rest. Bill Wilson publicly deferred to the 100 members of AA as the real authors of the big book

of Alcoholics Anonymous.

However, in reality, Bill Wilson was the author of every chapter, including to wives, written

in the voice of the female family members of

alcoholics. The exception is the chapter to employers, which was written by Hank Parkhurst.

Hank who? Who's Hank Parker's? Henry G. Parker's was Bill's right-hand man in New York City.

Now, you may never heard of him, but after Bill Wilson, Hank is the most important person in an early Alcoholics Anonymous history by far.

According to William Sheaberg in his book, writing the big book, and in Sober Friends, episode 110 and 111, besides Bill Wilson,

Hank Parkhurst is the most responsible person for the writing of the big book.

Hank Parkhurst role was critical during the writing of the book.

Without Hank's ideas, enthusiasm, drive, and push that he constantly gave Bill Wilson during the writing

and promotional period, it would be impossible to guess if AA would be the program that it is

today. As William Schaberg says, no Hank, no big book.

Hank was so central, so central to the history of the writing of the big book that I can say without fear of contradiction, no Hank, no big book.

Hank Parkhurst is all but vanished from the official story of AA.

Hank's full story is for another time, but some background is required to understand who he was, his role in the big book, and why

his work history made him the perfect person to write to employers.

...