This book is a study of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, written with the co-operation of hundreds of members of an organization that, from small beginnings, now has a membership of 2,000,000. Nan Robertson aims to show why AA succeeds where all other methods fail. It begins with a saga of two helpless drunks, who, leaning on each other, found a way to stay sober one day at a time - that was the beginning of AA. The book climaxes with the moving story of the author's own battle with alcohol and her inspiring recovery through AA. The author won the Pulitzer Prize for her article on toxic-shock syndrome.