I have read around on the web some mentions of a new Joan Crawford biography released earlier this month that seems to be gaining some positive attention. It’s penned by Donald Spoto, who gave us bios on Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock and just about every other star you can imagine.
Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford
From what I have read, Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford gives readers the objective take on the star whose image was so badly damaged after daughter Christina released Mommie Dearest a year or so after Crawford’s death (and, incidentally, after the eldest adoptee was disinherited).
I recently watched an awful investigation Discovery program on Crawford’s will that contemplated the reason why Christina and Christopher were cut from their mother’s legacy while the younger twin girls were not. The show was horribly unobjective and offered interviews with Christina “balanced” by interviews with the son of the last living twin. Needless to say, I felt Mommie Dearest became even further discredited in my eyes after watching this show.
Plenty of sources have indicated that the content in Mommie Dearest is only loosely based on fact, and the twin girls maintained they never experienced anything Christina said she did. Spoto’s book, however, might give the clarity any Crawford fan seeks.
Angela at The Hollywood Revue shared her take on the book.
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MacGuffin Movies 
I think the “feud” was a publicity stunt. I think Crawford was a wonderful self-promoter who say it as a great business move. I think Davis hated Crawford, but no more than she did most people. Crawford was visciously ambitious; Davis was just a jerk. Both were very talented on-screen.