Great feuds in history : ten of the liveliest disputes ever / Colin Evans.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-231) and index.

Elizabeth I versus Mary -- Parliament versus Charles I -- Burr versus Hamilton -- Hatfields versus McCoys -- Stalin versus Trotsky -- Amundsen versus Scott -- Duchess of Windsor versus Queen Mother -- Montgomery versus Patton -- Johnson versus Kennedy -- Hoover versus King.

This volume contains a collection of 10 feuds between some of the world's most enigmatic personalities, with an emphasis on the global issues often at stake and how, for better or worse, the feuds changed history. History and human nature collide as revenge is taken to the extreme between strangers and within families. Amundsen and Scott race to the South Pole. Patton and Montgomery, "two armor-plated egos," battle the Germans while vying with each other for the title of supreme Allied general in WWII. The Hatfields and the McCoys, the modern-day synonyms for feuding parties, meet in a succession of bloody showdowns, while Burr and Hamilton's legacy is determined by one fatal duel. Royalty is well-represented, including the bitter verbal fireworks between Queen Elizabeth I and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. Politicians are also major players with larger-than-life personalities like Stalin, Trotsky and Lyndon Baines Johnson. What stands out in each fascinating case is how hate clouds common sense, how losers sometimes win and winners often lose and, as the author observes, "history isn't always written by the winners."