The Collected Ernie Kurtz,

Ernest Kurtz has been the outstanding thinker of the A.A. tradition's second generation, the one who played a constant leadership role in pushing the movement towards the highest professional standards of history writing and supplied some of its most influential interpretive concepts. His ideas are vitally important for anyone who wishes to understand A.A. history during the period following Bill Wilson's death in 1971.

As a Ph.D. student at Harvard University in the 1970's, he was the first researcher to be granted full access to the archives of Alcoholics Anonymous. The book that resulted, Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous (1979), is still the classic work on early A.A. history. His book on the spiritual life -- Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham, The Spirituality of Imperfection: Modern Wisdom from Classic Stories (1992) -- is equally well known, and has also been an enduring best seller through the years since it appeared. His work on Shame & Guilt (orig. pub. 1981, rev. ed. 2007) has given a whole new depth to the discussion of those two vital recovery issues.

This present book, containing twelve key articles written by Kurtz between 1982 and 1996, gives us an additional volume from his hand, displaying the impressive range and breadth of his thought on alcoholism, addiction, and spirituality.

Research on Alcoholics Anonymous: The Historical Context

Alcoholics Anonymous: A Phenomenon in American Religious History

Drugs and the Spiritual: Bill W. Takes LSD

"Spiritual Rather Than Religious": The Contribution of Alcoholics Anonymous

The Spirituality of William James: A Lesson from Alcoholics Anonymous

Shame in the Nineties

Commentary on "Lay Treatment"

Models of Alcoholism Used in Treatment: Contrasting A.A. and Other Models with Which it is Often Confused

Spirituality and Recovery: the Historical Journey

Whatever Happened to Twelve-Step Programs?

Why A.A. Works: The Intellectual Significance of Alcoholics Anonymous

Here's to Spuds MacKenzie!