Kevin Costner recently starred in a television mini-series on the famous Hatfield- McCoy feud. I watched a bit of it and quickly realized it was a Hollywood version of history (big surprise, right?) and turned it off. But later it struck me…how do I really know that? Truth is that I didn’t know much about the feud.

So I picked up The Hatfields and the McCoys by Otis Rice and decided to educate myself.

The first thing I learned is that there is a lot to learn. This was a really long running feud! Also, that what you learn depends in large part on who you talk to. It’s not like either the Hatfields or the McCoys kept good records — both were largely unlearned people from the backwoods. Nor could you believe the news accounts, which were highly sensationalized. Verbal accounts were highly biased. So Rice relies heavily on court records. Seems wise to me.

Unfortunately, it’s also a bit dull. I wanted to be amazed by this book and find heroes and villains, bravery and tomfoolery, good and evil. Instead, I found a lot of ignorant men (and it was by far mostly men) trying to defend their family honor that mostly didn’t exist anyway. The whole feud can be described as a series of stupid decisions, entirely too much alcohol, misplaced pride, ignorance, pettiness, more alcohol, and a culture of violence borne of backwoods survivalism and Civil War memories. It all felt like a 19th Century Jerry Springer show.

Skip the book. Not that it’s a bad book. It’s just that the whole Hatfield-McCoy thing is so ridiculous. Skip the whole episode in history. Save yourself the depression that comes from realizing just how stupid we can be sometimes.