The “Big Book’s” big brother

It turns out the Alcoholics Anonymous-sainted Bill Wilson wasn’t even original with his “Big Book.” Instead, he borrowed at least the ideas for it pretty much wholesale from ”The Common Sense of Drinking” by Richard Peabody.

:Like Wilson, Peabody was himself an alcoholic drinker who got help through a church-based program. And given the print coverage of Peabody’s work, he hardly could have missed it.

In the 1930s Peabody was publishing articles in both the medical and lay literature on his method: The New England Journal of Medicine (1930), Mental Hygiene (1930), The American Mercury (1931) and American Magazine (1931). His book, The Common Sense of Drinking (1931) was republished in 1935 as an Atlantic Monthly Press book.

That said, there are definite differences. Wilson never claimed to be professional, or even an officially trained lay therapist. And AA was free, rather than charging.

On the flip side, though, it appears that Peabody strived for a more scientifically-informed approach than Wilson ever did.