Rigorous Honesty (A Cultural History of Alcoholics Anonymous 1935-1960)

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935. A great deal has been written about the addiction program and its membership, but little scholarship has been done on how it reflected the culture of the 1930s and Great Depression. Kevin Kaufmann’s Rigorous Honesty investigates what AA can tell us about America in the 1930s. It begins by examining the temperance movement and prohibition era and how they influenced the program’s initial design and foundational texts. With the advent of World War II, Alcoholics Anonymous, like the rest of the nation, underwent enormous changes. AA spread across the country and considerably increased its membership. The fellowship went from a slow-growing, grassroots movement to an international organization almost overnight. As American culture took a decidedly conservative turn in the postwar era, Alcoholics Anonymous changed its message to suit not only the changing political climate country but its evolving economy as well.