The official title of AA's self-help text is Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. But its nickname, "The Big Book," is how it's referred to most often.

For many recovering alcoholics, the book has been their bible for sobriety.

The Big Book's History
The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, originally published the Big Book in 1939 as a text for the fledgling self-help group. Four editions of the 400-page book have since been printed in dozens of languages and formats.

Between 1939 and 1955, 300,000 copies went into circulation. The 1955 publishing of the second edition totaled 1,150,500 copies while the third edition (1976) grew to 19,550,000 copies. At last count, the Big Book has sold 27 million copies in the U.S. and Canada.

The original manuscript surfaced about a decade ago. This version, written by Bill Wilson, is considerably different from the book that was eventually published. The original AA members who edited the manuscript wanted the book to be less tied to Christianity and more inclusive of all faiths.

For example, they edited Step 7 of the 12 Steps from "Humbly, on our knees, asked Him to remove our shortcomings," to "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."

The edits also reveal other changes in wording throughout the book from "I" to "We". So from "You stand at the turning point," to "We stand at the turning point."

This original was sold at Sotheby's for $1.56 million. And Minnesota addiction treatment center Hazelden republished it as "The Book That Started It All," in 2010.

The Big Book's Synopsis
The Big Book is divided into two parts with the first half centered on the 12-steps (Chapter 5) and how these steps can be used to overcome alcohol addiction.

These 12 steps are read at the beginning of each A.A. meeting around the world. Examples and anecdotes are given on how to apply the 12 steps. And you'll read about how Bill W. came to be an alcoholic (Chapter 1) and how he overcame his addiction.

The second half of the book contains success stories from alcoholics. These stories have changed over the years to reflect more modern versions.

If there's a theme of the Big Book, it's that the road to sobriety can only be accomplished through a higher power as alcoholics are "powerless over alcohol."

The Big Book's Content
You can read the entire Fourth Edition Big Book online at AA.com. Here is the table of contents:
Preface
Foreword to First Edition
Foreword to Second Edition
Foreword to Third Edition
Foreword to Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion

Chapter 1: Bill's Story
Chapter 2:  There is a Solution
Chapter 3:  More About Alcoholism
Chapter 4:  We Agnostics
Chapter 5:  How It Works
Chapter 6:  Into Action
Chapter 7:  Working with Others
Chapter 8:  To Wives
Chapter 9: The Family Afterward
Chapter 10:  To Employers
Chapter 11:  A Vision For You

Personal Stories: How Forty-Two Alcoholics recovered from their malady
Appendices:

The Big Book as a Harbinger
The Big Book was ahead of its time in recognizing alcoholism as a disease rather than a failure of character as was the common belief of the time. In the "Doctor's Opinion" Bill Wilson's addiction doctor, William Silkworth, states (substitute disease for "allergy"):

"We believe, and so suggested a few years ago, that the action of alcohol on these chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy; that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve."

The American Medical Association didn't recognize alcoholism as a disease until 1956. 

Summary
The Big Book has endured for over 70 years as the textbook for thousands of recovering alcoholics in A.A., many who consider it their bible. And the good news is the entire book is available online at no cost at the Alcoholics Anonymous website.

Sources:
http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/30/alcoholics-anonymous-big-book/