I'll be the sacrificial lamb or devil's advocate here. But I want to have the leisure to formulate a meaningful response. My intent really isn't to stir up hate and discontent. I just tend to look at things "objectively". It is my nature.
One thing though that we should all remember is that these guys are artists. I had marks on my report card when in elementary school "Does Not Play Well With Others" <LOL>. The Eagles (i.e., Frey and Henley along with Rhonstat, CSN&Y, POCO....ect...) were all in the ground breaking climate of the late 60's and early 70's as the singer-songwriter designation of musicians was forming itself. On top of that, Frey and Henley were from the beginning trying to make successful a genre of music that had not been successful before (country rock). Combine that with their young ages. They were blessed with tremendous success before they had the maturity to deal with it! Can we say "Volatile?"
They did methodically plan out their strategy and that included enlisting Leadon and Meisner. Later on, they furthered their goals to success by taking the next step for them by moving more into Rock and to do that, they needed another type musician....Felder. One album later, they kicked it up another notch by hiring Walsh and later still, by replacing Meisner with Schmit.
Note that with Leadon and Meisner, partnership as an Eagle was part of the agreement. It was the same with Felder. These three were full partners in the Eagles LTD. Walsh and Schmit were not and are not partners in the Eagles LTD. In the case of Meisner and Leadon, they "officially" left "voluntarily".
Felder, for whatever reason, did not leave even when it was obvious that he was a bone of contention. Why should he? He was as much of a partner of the Eagles corporation as was Frey or Henley.
At that point, I really think that one of two things took place and I do not know if the public will ever know what really happened. But on the surface, it appears that "The Eagles" either made a horrible judgmental call that violated Felder's rights as a Partner or they realized what they were doing and knew they were stepping over the legal lines and decided to do it anyway! They had to have known that you can't FIRE a partner! You would have to assume that they had legal counsel that would have advised them as to the legal Pandora's Box they were about to open up. They could either buy him out or make life so difficult for him in the band that he would leave on his on or Felder could have sold his partnership and walked away. Who knows what offers were made or what conditions existed!
Whatever the case, they got what "The Eagles" wanted eventually though I'm sure it cost them dearly to get it. Felder was out. Maybe it was something that had to be done to allow the Eagles to "move on" where Don and Glenn (the ONLY two remaining Partners in the corporation) wanted it to go. Maybe it was even cheaper to do it that way than to settle without the Judicial System's involvement. But the Eagles were in the driver's seat through all of this. When they "Fired" him, they engaged the game. Felder responded in the only way he could short of rolling over and playing dead. He Sued.
As for his book....I've certainly read a lot worse accounts written by artists! And, knowing something of the background of the 60's and 70's musicians, I do not have a lot of trouble seeing the issues from Felder's viewpoint.
You could say that Frey and Henley elected to take the "high road" by not responding to allegations made in the book. Maybe so. Or maybe they simply believe it is beneath their notice. If they do think it beneath them, then we are all probably making a lot out of something that Don and Glenn do not consider worth rebutting.
I've said it before and will say it again, I love these guys as musicians, but they are NOT ROLE MODELS! They were back in the day, exceptional pioneers in music. Today, they are very good performers (I do not there is anyone better!) though I do not think myself that their current contributions of new material is up to the standards they established in the Sevienties.
They were and are very successful in what they did and still do. But they took it to the limits too! Today, the remaining members of The Eagles Corporation are both artists and also very successful Businessmen. I admire them for their success. But I wouldn't want my son to pattern his life on the flowchart that any of the Musicians of the 60's and 70's charted out!
AS for "sticking up for Felder", he really doesn't need any of my help. But were he to offer me say .00001% of the setlement in the lawsuit, I could retire and would stick up for him then! <LOL>