Feuding Societies
Jacob Black-Michaud

A feud is a state of bitter and lasting mutual hostility, usually between two families, tribes or individuals. It is characterized by violence and murder in revenge for some previous insult or wrong. This book is a study of the feud in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, two areas where it has been and still is most prevalent.

By examining the course of many individual feuds in a variety of different contexts, the author provides an explanation for feuding behavior. He considers how far feuds can be satisfactory concluded and how far they are never-ending. He suggests that feuding societies in the Mediterranean and the Middel East are characterized by a particular form of social structure and that this may even be regarded as a social system in its own right which acts as a substitute for more sophisticated political institutions.