In 1983, HCI published one of the landmark books in recovery, Adult Children of Alcoholics by Dr. Janet Woititz. Virtually spawning the ACOA movement and still a perennial seller, Woititz’s book inspired a new way of looking at the impact of alcoholism on future generations. The book became the first in a string of New York Times bestsellers for HCI. What came next was a book from another emerging icon in the recovery field, John Bradshaw whose Healing the Shame That Binds You also hit the New York Times bestseller list. It continues to be a recovery staple worldwide and has even been featured on Oprah. In 1993, after a brief dry spell in the recovery market and a decision to expand its publishing program, two motivational speakers came to HCI with a manuscript in hand that had been turned down by 133 publishers. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen would not be stopped by these rejections and persevered with their dreams. The stories they collected touched the heart and the intuition of HCI’s owner, Peter Vegso and history was made. The phenomenon that is Chicken Soup for the Soul, 101 Stories is now the bestselling self-help series ever published with over 100 million copies sold to date.

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