Tuesday AA literature/history post - from William Schaberg's Writing The Big Book:

Chapter 25

"Working With Others": Step Twelve

   Bill concludes the chapter ["Into Action" - Jim B.] by returning to one of his constant refrains throughout the discussion of the Steps. "But that is not all," he says. "There is action and more action. 'Faith without works is dead.' What works? We shall treat them in the next chapter which is entirely devoted to step twelve." [This is from an early draft - Jim B.]
   In fulfillment of this promise, Wilson then took the already-written chapter, "Working With Others," and positioned it directly after "Into Action." He did this despite the fact that what he had written earlier focused almost exclusively on the middle part of the Twelfth Step ("we tried to carry this message to alcoholics") while completely ignoring the opening and closing requirements of the step ("having had a spiritual awakening as the resut of this course of action" and "to practice these principles in all our affairs").
   Wilson likely felt the chapters immediately following "Working With Others" ("To Wives," "The Family Afterward" and "To Employers") sufficiently covered the need to practice these principles on all the alcoholic's affairs. However, the first part of the step - about having a spiritual experience as a result of all this work - was nowhere specifically addressed on the book. Perhaps this was intacit acknowledgement of Hank Parkhurst's earlier observation: "One of the easiest and most talked of things among us is a religious experience. I believe that this is incomprehensible to most people. Simple + meaning[ful] words to us - but meaningless to most of the people that we are trying to get this over to." It wasn't until the second printing of the Big Book in March 1941 that Wilson added "Appendix II" (later entitled "Spiritual Experience") in his first concerted effort to explain that critical part of Step Twelve.     Page 489  [Emphasis added]