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1919 SOUL SURGERY PUBLISHED
Howard Walter, missionary in India and friend of Buchman’s, collaborates with Buchman to publish Soul Surgery. The booklet is both a criticism of mainstream evangelical technique and an effort to forward a new approach to working with others. (read soul surgery)

1920s OXFORD GROUP ESTABLISHED
The Oxford group is formed from Buchman’s post-conversion efforts and develops its own unique evangelical style. This style is characterized by an emphasis on personal change and the practice of Guidance. (more)

1934 BILL WILSON’S “HOT FLASH”
While under treatment at Towns Hospital , Bill Wilson experiences a flash of white light and an overwhelming sense of well-being that frees him from his alcoholism. Bill’s “hot flash,” as he would later call it, leads him to associate with the Oxford Group. It should be noted, however, that Bill’s experience is quite different from the typical Oxford Grouper’s experience, and these differences have their effect on the way he relates to the Group’s practices. (more)

1935 A CHANGE OF FOCUS
Bill’s failure to transmit his experience to other alcoholics leads to a conversation with Dr. William Silkworth. After this conversation, Bill approaches alcoholics with a medical description of their shared condition, and saves the “God stuff” for later. (more)

TWO FELLOWSHIPS EMERGE
While on a trip to Akron , Ohio , Bill is hit by the desire to drink. He makes some phone calls and sets up an appointment to meet with Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, a member of the Oxford Group in Akron who is also an active alcoholic. The encounter results in Dr. Bob’s sobriety and is considered the founding moment of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dr. Bob’s work in Akron and Bill’s work in New York City lead to the growth of two fellowships of recovered alcoholics. Though the fellowships consider themselves to be two halves of a whole program, in practice Akron is far more religious and New York more social. (more)

1939 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS PUBLISHED
Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly called the Big Book, is an attempt to collect and codify all knowledge gained by the new fellowships. Because of the differences between New York and Akron, the result is not a perfect description of either group’s program but represents a middle ground between the two, less religious than Akron, but still less social than New York. The final manuscript shows that, whatever the program of Alcoholics Anonymous may actually be, it is much removed from the Oxford Group. (more)

1944 BILL GETS DEPRESSED
In Bill’s struggle with depression, he looks for help outside of the Twelve Steps. What he finds in psychotherapy and his relationship with Father Ed Dowling will change his perspective on the Steps. (more)

1949 HAZELDEN FOUNDED
Hazelden, a center whose treatment plan is based on the Twelve Steps, becomes extremely successful. As Hazelden grows, it replaces a strictly Big Book approach to treatment with the multidisciplinary approach that will come to be known as the Minnesota Model. The Hazelden version of the Steps becomes increasingly psychological. As the Minnesota Model establishes a hegemony in the United States , it has a growing influence on Step practices within AA and other organizations. (more)

1952 TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS PUBLISHED
As AA grows and its population changes, Bill feels the need to reinterpret the Twelve Steps in a way that is responsive to the new membership of AA, and more accurately reflects the program of the New York fellowship. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions presents Bill’s new interpretation of the Twelve Steps. The new interpretation is both more social and more psychological than the Big Book. (more)

1953 NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
When it is founded in 1953, Narcotics Anonymous adopts the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions from AA with minor changes. The founding of NA sets a precedent for other fellowships to adopt the Steps and organize around problems other than alcoholism. NA’s literature shows that it has a social style of Stepwork, reminiscent of the interpretation of the Steps found in AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. (more)

THE TWELVE STEP BOOM
Hazelden’s Twelve-Step based Minnesota Model soon becomes the dominant form of addiction treatment in America . In the mid 70’s the National Council on Alcoholism launches a campaign to decrease the stigma associated with addiction. These factors contribute to a swell in popularity of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Step style treatment. The popularization of the Twelve Steps and the influx of people attracted to them give rise to a “recovery culture”with its own values and assumptions, separate from traditional understandings of the Steps. (more)