This Strange Illness: Alcoholism and Bill W.Transaction Publishers, 2004 M01 1 - 403 pages This brilliant work, both personal and professional in character, is a study of alcoholism, of a movement aimed at its cure, and of an individual participant in this development. The author develops an interlinked theory and scientific research program that describe an illness of the mind, body, and spirit. He does so without allowing the assumptions underlying the way we look at one area of illness, say the mind, to contradict the assumptions underlying the way we look at the human body or for that matter the human spirit. That Lobdell carries this project to a successful conclusion makes this a compelling work for everyone in the field of alcohol studies and social pathology. Lobdell, who has written on a broad range of subjects, here argues the originality and importance of recognition of alcoholism as a tripartite illness, and of congruent treatment for the three parts. He thus accepts a medical view of this vast social problem, but also recognizes dimensions within it that go beyond the ordinary limits of medical practice, as well as the complexity of its treatment. His book is at once an intellectual history of Bill W.'s vision; a short history of alcohol addiction and the culture of that addiction; a treatise on the psychological, biochemical, and spiritual aspects of the illness and its treatment; and a scientific research program for the future. Norman K. Denzin of the University of Illinois has hailed the book "as a wonderful story brought to a sophisticated readership, and will widely appeal to the recovering population." Matthew J. Raphael, intimate with the subjects as well as the concerns of this book says, "This Strange Illness is an astounding book. Jared Lobdell, a brilliant polymath, traverses a spectrum of disciplines û from biogenetics and chaos theory to psychology, sociology, and theology û in search of a sufficiently complex and comprehensive understanding alcoholism. This is the most intellectually rigorous study I have ever seen in the field." Jared C. Lobdell is author or editor of a dozen books in history and criticism and a number of articles in fields ranging from alcohol studies to systems analysis. He has served as a fellow at the Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Studies, Brown University. His current positions are at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and adjunct professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. |
From inside the book
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... interesting dif- ferences between what Bill W. wrote in 1938/39 and what he wrote in 1952/53 . The " Big Book " is , in general , the more immediately practical of the two , the 12 & 12 more philosophical — at least on Steps One through ...
... interesting peo- ple ... but we believe the necessary , indeed the indispensable , connecting thread is provided by one man ... And that is Bill W. " Whether A.A. , judged from the outside , is carrying out the vision , we cannot say in ...
... interesting , and began to attract somewhat the attention of the public ; and through their influence many of the most desperate and hopeless subjects of intemperance were redeemed ( ibid.:13-17 ) . But it was just this public attention ...
... interesting hymns or songs , ( quoted from Maxwell 1950 : 435 ) Despite the missionary tone — and the distance from Utica to Balti- more — it would seem clear that singing was an integral part of the Wash- ingtonian meeting , in an era ...
... interesting appendix by Lambert , " The Relation of Alcohol to Disease " ( but emphati- cally not on the " disease of alcoholism " ) . Still , Towns , like Keeley before and Peabody after , did believe that alcoholism and addiction were ...
Contents
21 | |
57 | |
A Scientific Note Typologies Heredities and the Adjacent Possible | 93 |
Mind The Psychology or Alcoholism | 129 |
Body The Biogenetics and Biochemistry or Alcoholism | 167 |
Theology or Alcoholism Sobriety and Alcoholics Anonymous | 203 |
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous | 239 |
The Twelve Traditions or Alcoholics Anonymous | 285 |
Paradigm Regained Suggestions rrom Our Scientific Research Program | 329 |
References | 373 |
Index | 387 |