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Rating: 
Summary: Big picture of deals throughout history
Review: Arguably, few others could have been positioned to write a behind the scenes book detailing the world of corporate raiders, and financial gunslingers. He had the perfect opportunity to write a compelling book about flamboyant dealmakers and their deals. Unfortunately, in 800+ pages, Wasserstein has done a remarkable job of revealing little or nothing about his personal experiences.This book covers the basics of M&A, various deals throughout history, and interjects profiles of some of the notable dealmakers like Diller, Redstone, Icahn, Pickens, and more. The author also tackles the issue of how these mergers and acquisitions affect the little guy, trying to explain away anti-merger rhetoric. Unfortunately, most of his arguments can be summarized as, "it isn't that simple." Not very compelling.
This gargantuan book is informative, but most of it is dry and stilted. If you are looking for hidden information or colorful anecdotes about the stunning amount of money changing hands, this book will not give you what you want.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: M&A tycoon Bruce Wasserstein has not just studied the high-stakes world of corporate mergers & acquisitions, he's lived it. As head of M&A at First Boston and then as leader of his own firm, Wasserstein has played a role in many pivotal corporate marriages. In these pages, Wasserstein comprehensively examines the hows and whys of history's largest deals. While skirting the fundamental question of whether mergers & acquisitions enhance or depress shareholder value over the long term, Wasserstein conveys an overwhelming amount of information about the dynamics and tactics that define M&A. The book is enormous and encyclopedic, so it might serve better as a reference text than a straight-through read. We from getAbstract strongly recommend this book for both its compelling historic accounts of Wall Street's most important deals and deal makers and its detailed breakdown of how the game actually works.
Rating: 
Summary: Effective summary of high profile M&A activity and history
Review: The author has an awesome task in summarizing dynamics and history of M&A Activity. Books can be (and have) written on indiudual deals. As a result this book serves more like a compendium of M&A activity and its history with a few insights into the back door drama and mechanics employed in high profile M&A's. Although a touch on the dry side, it gives a flavor of some of the intricacies involved in some of the high profile M&A deals. Interesting reading and doesn't have to be read from start to finish i.e you can skip around to deals that pique your interest.
Rating:
Summary: Generally decent, but might suffer from lack of focus
Review: This book is like a textbook. It's structured with chapters on various industries, history, and the process. It's also like a historical memoir, with profiles of many people the author knows personally. Somewhere in the middle, we lose something. For example, when describing historical facts, you get the sense that the author has pulled back. Judgements aren't made, interpretations are scarce. Mixed with the profiles, there's this nagging feeling that the author would never really criticize anyone. Tactful to the extreme is how it could be described, and as a result, the book does not have a soul. Having said all that, it's kind of funny reading the bits on Drexel and the profile on Miliken. Everyone has already knocked them down, but Wasserstein doesn't kick a dead horse. That'd be too easy. He could write epitaths for villains.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely dry book
Review: This book makes the Mojave look positively flush with water. Mr. Wasserstein addresses a fascinating topic--mergers and acquistions--with all the passion of a mortician. Why the five stars? Mr. Wasserstein also happens to be a brilliant attorney, and have a remarkably substantive body of knowledge about innumerable large acquistions that have occurred over the past thirty years. Indeed, in his bibliography, he writes: "Much of the contemporary factual material in this book is drawn from memory." That is an especially impressive statement, given that the book weighs in at over 900 pages. Read the book if only to be impressed at the mind of such a man. Interesting side note: Mr. Wasserstein's sister is a Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, Wendy Wasserstein. Her plays evince a passion utterly lacking in _Big Deal_.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely dry book
Review: This book makes the Mojave look positively flush with water. Mr. Wasserstein addresses a fascinating topic--mergers and acquistions--with all the passion of a mortician. Why the five stars? Mr. Wasserstein also happens to be a brilliant attorney, and have a remarkably substantive body of knowledge about innumerable large acquistions that have occurred over the past thirty years. Indeed, in his bibliography, he writes: "Much of the contemporary factual material in this book is drawn from memory." That is an especially impressive statement, given that the book weighs in at over 900 pages. Read the book if only to be impressed at the mind of such a man. Interesting side note: Mr. Wasserstein's sister is a Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, Wendy Wasserstein. Her plays evince a passion utterly lacking in _Big Deal_.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! An incredible amount of great info in a single volume!
Review: What an incredible resource! I bought this book because it was on the suggested reading list for a course on Corporate Control I took in the MBA program at the University of Michigan b-school. Yes, it is almost 900 pages long. Yes, some of the stories could use a bit of updating because of the recent events at places like Tyco and Worldcom. But so what? It is nice to have on record how people used to think and talk about these businesses and their CEOs. That little tiny caveat aside it is important to focus on everything you get in this really neat book. You get a history of the different waves of the M&A process throughout history, how it has evolved, the way it has developed in different industries and market sectors, and a rather nice analysis (in the broadest strokes) of what goes in planning and executing these deals. Throughout the book there are wonderful spotlights on the principle people in the history of M&A and little synopses of the more famous and important precedent setting deals. This aspect of the book is incredibly valuable. In order to make sense of what we read about in the paper about mergers and acquisitions we need to know how we got here. This book provides an incredible amount of wonderful background material. Some complain that the book is long. I think it is amazing that he has put so much in only 900 pages. Amazingly compact! Mr. Wassertein, one of the industries movers and shakers (currently running Lazard), has organized this book in twenty-three chapters that are grouped in three large sections: (1) Past as Prelude, (2) The Strategic Challenge, and (3) Doing the Deal. Plus there is a nice bibliography (also grouped in according to these three sections) that can lead to further reading on the topics of interest to you. The index is also quite useful because this book can be used for reference in looking up or reviewing specific topics. Yes, reading this book front to back is a great read, but you cannot remember it all the first time through. It is useful to be able to dive into specific deals, people, and topics. The author has put this book together in a thoughtful and helpful way. If you want scandal and gossip, well, this book really isn't for you. However, if you are interested in the BUSINESS of M&A this is a six star book. It really is terrific.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! An incredible amount of great info in a single volume!
Review: What an incredible resource! I bought this book because it was on the suggested reading list for a course on Corporate Control I took in the MBA program at the University of Michigan b-school. Yes, it is almost 900 pages long. Yes, some of the stories could use a bit of updating because of the recent events at places like Tyco and Worldcom. But so what? It is nice to have on record how people used to think and talk about these businesses and their CEOs. That little tiny caveat aside it is important to focus on everything you get in this really neat book. You get a history of the different waves of the M&A process throughout history, how it has evolved, the way it has developed in different industries and market sectors, and a rather nice analysis (in the broadest strokes) of what goes in planning and executing these deals. Throughout the book there are wonderful spotlights on the principle people in the history of M&A and little synopses of the more famous and important precedent setting deals. This aspect of the book is incredibly valuable. In order to make sense of what we read about in the paper about mergers and acquisitions we need to know how we got here. This book provides an incredible amount of wonderful background material. Some complain that the book is long. I think it is amazing that he has put so much in only 900 pages. Amazingly compact! Mr. Wassertein, one of the industries movers and shakers (currently running Lazard), has organized this book in twenty-three chapters that are grouped in three large sections: (1) Past as Prelude, (2) The Strategic Challenge, and (3) Doing the Deal. Plus there is a nice bibliography (also grouped in according to these three sections) that can lead to further reading on the topics of interest to you. The index is also quite useful because this book can be used for reference in looking up or reviewing specific topics. Yes, reading this book front to back is a great read, but you cannot remember it all the first time through. It is useful to be able to dive into specific deals, people, and topics. The author has put this book together in a thoughtful and helpful way. If you want scandal and gossip, well, this book really isn't for you. However, if you are interested in the BUSINESS of M&A this is a six star book. It really is terrific.
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