Twelve Step Programs: A Contemporary American Quest for Meaning and Spiritual Renewal

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.