The Secret Of Victorious Living

By: Harry Emerson Fosdick

1934 printing with original dust jacket (ODJ)

One of the first published reviews of the Big Book, in April 1939, was by a well-known minister, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick of Riverside Church in New York City. He wrote:

“This extraordinary book deserves the careful at- tention of anyone interested in the problem of alcoholism.”

Dr. Fosdick was an esteemed minister and his church was one of the most prominent in the country. His public support of the fledgling group of recently sober men was invaluable. Associating his good name to this society of drunks, he lent the Fellowship legitimacy. Bill W. would later say:

"Dr. Fosdick was the very first clergyman to recognize us, at the Rockefeller dinner for A.A. in February 1940, Dr. Fosdick gave us a most wonderful testimonial and expressed complete confidence in our future.”

Dr. Fosdick, in his address to a meeting of the New York Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in November 1942, said:

“Every minister who is also a personal counselor has to deal with cases of alco- holism. For years I have dreaded that. Almost any kind of abnormality I would welcome rather than face a case of alco- holism. What to do with a thorough- going alcoholic?”

He went on to say that, “I ... recom- mend all rabbis, priests, and ministers to acquaint them- selves with this movement, avail themselves of its help, and encourage the groups that may be forming in their community.”