viii, 191 pages ; 22 cm

Twelve Step Programs are significant features in the American landscape. Their popularity compels us to take them seriously. This book studies one such program, Al-Anon, which was founded in 1951 by wives of alcoholics who were struggling with the effects of alcoholism on themselves and their families. In the 1990s its scope was broadened to include husbands, grown children, lovers, friends, and anyone else affected by another's drinking or chemical use. This study used an ethnographic approach: it reveals that Al-Anon and similar groups act as sites of spiritual renewal and moral reconstruction for primarily white, middle-class, middle-aged, Protestant Americans who report experiencing a crisis of identity. Investigating Twelve Step Programs lends further insight into the cultural crisis affecting many Americans as well as the strategies some have found to make sense of their lives

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-187) and index

1. Framing the Crisis and the Quest -- 2. Alcoholics Anonymous: Origins and Development -- 3. Al-Anon: Origins and Underpinnings -- 4. Al-Anon Literature and Current Member Understandings of the Program -- 5. Identity and Al-Anon: Reconstructing a Spiritual and Moral Self in an Uncertain World -- 6. Al-Anon and the Wider Context: Religion and Society in the Post-World War II Era -- 7. Self-Help, Recovery, and the Creation of a Twelve Step Movement -- App. A. The Twelve Steps of Al-Anon -- App. B. The Twelve Traditions of Al-Anon -- App. C. The Twelve Concepts of Al-Anon -- App. D. Suggested Al-Anon Welcome -- App. E. Suggested Al-Anon Preamble to the Twelve Steps -- App. F. Suggested Al-Anon Closing -- App. G. 1989 Interview Questions -- App. H. Demographic Data -- App. I. Al-Anon Literature

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