The Great Feud

I really enjoyed this book. Being a newly active member of the Clan Donald, I had always seen references to the Macdonald/Campbell feud but never understood it or the history. Mr. Tomson tells the story from the beginnings with the events that led to the centuries old competition between these two great clans. Now it makes sense to me why people snicker at the Clan Donald and Campbell's tents being next to each other at the highland games or the little battles between them. The history of the Lords of the Isles and Earls of the Campbell family are easy to read and enjoyable. The second half of the book is just various stories of people of the name Campbell and Macdonald who ended up in rivalries or succeeded or failed in different endeavors. A fun easy read, yet very informative. Good book to have on the shelf for members of either clan.

The Campbells and the MacDonalds were two great and influential clans of the Scottish highlands who were caught up in a political and territorial rivalry that often broke out into bloody violence. Beginning with the violent death of a Campbell chief in 1996 at the hands of the MacDonalds, this famous vendetta and feud lasted through generations of conflicts, battles, duels, skirmishes, and assassinations that branched out beyond Scotland to Europe, India, the West Indies, America, and Australia. In The Great Feud, historian Oliver Thomson chronicles the history of this great rivalry as well as the lives of numerous clan descendants that included politicians, poets, terrorists, sports figures, entrepreneurs, and a mistress introduced to President John F. Kennedy by Frank Sinatra. Thomson makes the past come alive with a roster of colorful characters and memorable events from the 13th Century to the 20th Century and the founding of two of the most famous American commercial empires: McDonalds' restaurants and the Campbell Soup Company. The Great Feud is entertaining, informative, exceptionally well written, and recommended to both students of world history and non-specialist general reader history buffs.