Rivalries have sparked some of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the world, and twenty-four of these are re-created here, among them the dynastic and religious clash of Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots; the jockeying for power and prestige played out by Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates; the differing visions of nationhood that polarized Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong; and the struggle between Adolf Hitler and Ernst Roehm for control of the Nazi Party, the outcome of which set in motion the ascendancy of the Third Reich.