Where are the Twelve Steps in the Big Book?
In short:
- The Twelve Steps are printed in Chapter 5, "How It Works," on pages 59 and 60 of the Big Book. Steps 1 to 11 are on page 59; Step 12 runs onto page 60.
- Chapter 5 opens on page 58 by saying the writers have rarely "seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path" (p. 58). The often-heard line "Rarely is a man constituted…" isn't in the book.
- The list is only the summary. The book explains how the Steps are taken across Chapters 5, 6 and 7 (pp. 58–103), and Chapters 1 to 4 lay the ground for the first two.
The page the Steps are on
Chapter 5 starts on page 58. A few paragraphs in, after "Half measures availed us nothing" (p. 59), the book introduces the list with the words "Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery" (p. 59). Steps 1 to 11 follow on page 59, and Step 12 finishes on page 60.
The book itself refers back to this page as the place to find them. After the Fifth Step, the reader is told to take the book down and turn "to the page which contains the twelve steps" (p. 75).
Where each Step is explained
The list on pages 59–60 is followed by the chapters that say how each Step was done:
| Steps | Where the book explains them | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | The chapters before: "There Is a Solution," "More About Alcoholism," "We Agnostics." Page 60 says those chapters and the stories make clear "That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives" (p. 60), and that God could help. | 17–57, 60 |
| 3 | Chapter 5, the decision and the prayer that goes with it | 60–63 |
| 4 | Chapter 5, the written inventory | 63–71 |
| 5 to 11 | Chapter 6, "Into Action" | 72–88 |
| 12 | Chapter 7, "Working With Others." Chapter 6 ends by saying the next chapter "is entirely devoted to Step Twelve" (p. 88). | 89–103 |
About the chapter's opening line
Chapter 5's first sentence is the one quoted above, about people who have "thoroughly followed our path" (p. 58). A search of the whole text in our sources finds no "Rarely is a man constituted." The page goes on to say that those who don't recover are usually people "constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves" (p. 58), which is probably where the misquote's "constituted" comes from.
Before the Twelve Steps
The twelve were not the first form of the program. One of the early stories in the back of the book, "He Sold Himself Short," describes Akron before the Big Book was written, when Dr. Bob took a newcomer through "the Six-Step program as it was at that time" (p. 263). That is a later retelling of the early days, so it's a pointer, not a history; see How long did the first members take to work the Steps?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 5, "How It Works" (pp. 58–71), where the Steps are listed, free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" (pp. 72–88): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- The full book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is sold by A.A. World Services at https://onlineliterature.aa.org.
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), Chapter 5, "How It Works" | 58–71 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 6, "Into Action" | 72–88 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 7, "Working With Others" | 89–103 | 1939 |
| "He Sold Himself Short," Part I of the personal stories | 263 | story describes Akron before the Big Book; a later retelling, read with care |
Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). The Preface says the program chapters have been "left largely untouched" since 1939 (p. xi), but our sources have no first edition to compare page numbers against.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.