P.S. I Hate You: The Angry John Lennon Letters
The former Beatle was an enthusiastic, occasionally cranky pen pal.

This week, with the blessing of Yoko Ono, Little, Brown and Company will publish The John Lennon Letters, a collection of John Lennon’s notes to friends, journalists, and the occasional groupie. The correspondence — often handwritten, sometimes featuring doodles — spans Lennon’s life and paints him as an enthusiastic, occasionally cranky pen pal. Here are a few of his angriest letters, all written in 1971, a year after the breakup of the Beatles.
To an unknown fan:
Lennon chastises an anti-Yoko “groupie.”

To the Syracuse Post-Standard:
Two surefire ways to upset Lennon: misunderstand Yoko Ono’s art and mention her more famous husband in the same review. The Post-Standard did both, prompting this letter.

To Paul and Linda McCartney:
In this two-page tirade, known to Beatles scholars as “the John rant,” Lennon trashes Paul, the Beatles, the press, and pretty much everybody else.

To Melody Maker:
After submitting to a joint interview with Yoko for the British music magazine, Lennon fired off this note to correct an egregious fact error in the piece: “[Yoko] never, but never wears clogs (or anything resembling clogs).”

To the Syracuse Post-Standard:
Still angry about the Post-Standard editorial, Lennon tracked down the name of the paper’s art critic and fired off a second letter – this time with Duchamp insults.

To George Martin:
McCartney was not the only target of Lennon’s post-Beatles rage; longtime producer George Martin also took some heat from Lennon over writing credits.

Excerpted from The John Lennon Letters, edited by Hunter Davies. Copyright ©2012 by Yoko Ono Lennon. Reprinted with permission of Little, Brown & Company.