Buchman and The Oxford Groups: Agent Orange Bibliography
this is not my work it is from an anti-AA website by Agent Orange
http://www.geocities.com/ageorange/orange-cult_a4.html

Twice-Born Men, Narratives of a Recent Movement in the Spirit of Personal Religion     Harold Begbie
G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, The Knickerbocker Press, 1923.
Dewey call number 248 B41m
This book fawns over and glorifies Dr. Frank Buchman as a religious leader. For some strange reason, perhaps a conceit of modesty, Frank Buchman is never explicitly named; he is always referred to as "F.B.". This book is basically a collection of stories of Frank Buchman making converts. As a historical document, it does give a peek into another world.

For Sinners Only     A. J. Russell
Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1932.
Dewey: 248 R96
More Oxford Group propaganda, written by a true believer in the cult. This book is especially good for the glimpse into Buchman's world that it gives. Just don't expect the stories to be entirely accurate or honest.

One Thing I Know     A. J. Russell
Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1933.
Dewey: 248 R96o
Describes the author's conversion to Buchmanism. Gives a first-hand glimpse of Frank Buchman.
 

On the Tail of a Comet, The Life of Frank Buchman     Garth Lean
Helmers & Howard, Colorado Springs, CO 80933, 1985.
ISBN 0-939443-07-4
Dewey call number B Bu853L
This book is a total white-wash of Frank Buchman, and large parts of it are complete fabrications, like the author's account of how Buchman tried to warn America about the dangers of fascism and Hitler before World War II, rather than actually praising and admiring Hitler, which Buchman really did. See the tail end of the file "The Religious Roots of The Twelve Steps" for a review.

Design For Dedication     Peter Howard
Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1964.
LCCCN: 64-23017
Dewey: 248 H85d
Peter Howard is the man who took over leadership of the Moral Re-Armament organization after Frank Buchman's death. As you can imagine, he has nothing but praise for Buchmanism. This is a collection of his speeches on a variety of subjects, ranging from religion to anti-Communism.

Frank Buchman's Secret     Peter Howard
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961.
LCCCN: 62-15095
Dewey: 248 H85f
More praise of Frank Buchman from Peter Howard.

There is no need to raise questions of metaphysics or philosophy and argue about the word 'absolute,' the real meaning of which nobody knows. 'Absolute' is used by the Group in the practical sense and means 'perfect.'
 

Funny, but all of my dictionaries know what the word "absolute" means... And it's odd that the author thinks that "perfect" is more practical and attainable than "absolute."

This advertising-slogan double-talk is good too:

Yes, like the forgotten and neglected truths that Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler were really great fellows.

Life Began Yesterday     Stephen Foot
Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1935.
Dewey: 248 F68
Another book that praises the Oxford Groups and the teachings of Frank N.D. Buchman.

The Oxford Group, Its History and Significance     Walter Houston Clark
Bookman Associates, New York, 1951
Dewey call number 248 C614
The author tries to present a fair and objective description of Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group Movement. He does a fair job of it. He really minimized incidents like Buchman's getting kicked out of Princeton, praise for Hitler and the Nazis, appeasement of Hitler, and draft-dodging of Oxford Group members, but still, he gives a pretty good history.

The Mystery of Moral Re-Armament, A Study of Frank Buchman and His Movement     Tom Driberg
Secker & Warberg, London, 1964.
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1965.
Library of Congress number BJ10 .M6D7
L.C. catalog card number 64-19084
Dewey number 248.25 D831
This is a great book, one of the most detailed, well-documented, and complete sources of information about Frank Buchman and his religious movement. And it is easy, fascinating reading, written by a fellow who didn't pull his punches when criticizing Buchman. It was written by Tom Driberg, a fellow who was a colorful personality in his own right, starting as a newspaper reporter in London, and then becoming one of the first openly-gay Members of Parliament in history. In the early nineteen-sixties, the London publishing house of Secker & Warburg asked Driberg to do a book on Buchman and the MRA, since he had previously reported on them.

Ruling Passions     Tom Driberg
Secker & Warberg, London, 1978
Library call number B Dr831r
This is the autobiography of Tom Driberg. He was everything from a newspaper reporter to a British Member of Parliament. He wrote the above book about Buchman and MRA.

The Open Secret of MRA; an examination of Mr. Driberg's 'critical examination' of Moral Re-Armament     J. P. Thornton-Duesbery, M.A. (Master of St. Peter's College, Oxford)
Blandford Press, London, 1964.
LC: BJ10 M6D68
This is MRA's answer to Tom Driberg's book on MRA. It sarcastically nit-picks everything in Driberg's book, and denies and tries to explain away every fault of Buchman and MRA.

Buchman -- Surgeon of Souls, B.W. Smith, Jr., American Magazine, 122:26-7+, November 1936.

"Much to my surprise, there was no great show of interest in this disclosure that a great figure in American history had undoubtedly thought of 'Moral Re-Armament' nearly two hundred years ago. Apparently for them there was no prophet but Frank Buchman!"
 

The Oxford Group Movement     Herbert Hensley Henson, D.D.
Oxford University Press, New York, 1933, 1934.
LC: BV4915 H4
Very interesting. Another critical analysis of the theology of Buchman. This author finds three flaws in Buchmanism:

1. It ignores the demands of the intellect in the high matter of religion. (page 3).

2. The Movement is too closely bound to the moods and claims of Adolescence (page 6).

3. The conception of Christianity which Groupism presents is far too meagre and limited (page 10).

"There is some danger that the Christian conception of prayer as a solemn act of communication between man and God, which calls forth the highest qualities of man's intellectual and moral apprehension, will be degraded to a mere listening to and recording of the vagaries of the subconscious mind."

Courage to Change, An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr     June Bingham
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1961.
LCCCN: 61-13362
Dewey: B N665b
This is a good biography of Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian and minister, who currently has a modicum of fame from authoring The Serenity Prayer.

Christianity and Power Politics     Reinhold Niebuhr
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1940.
LC: BR115.P7N55
Reinhold Niebuhr was one of the leading theologians of the early 20th century, and is famed for being the author of the Serenity Prayer. This book contains the chapter "Hitler and Buchman" [full text here], which appears to be a reprint of an article first published in the Christian Century magazine. It is a no-holds-barred attack on Buchman and his goofy theology.

Unheard Witness     Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl
J.B. Lippencott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1957.
Library call number 943.085 H23u
Library of Congress number 57-11953
This is a great read, the fascinating inside story of the rise of an uncouth country bumpkin named Adolf Hitler to the leadership of his nation... What makes it unusual is that it is an insider's story that was written by someone who was relatively sane, and there weren't very many of them in the inner circle of Nazis and sycophants around Adolf. In the end, Putzi had to flee to the USA to escape from the wrath of Hitler and the Gestapo, for saying true and sensible things just too many times... (Or at least, that's the way Putzi tells his story...)