5 comments about Reverse Mergers: Taking a Company Public Without an IPO.

1. Well, maybe it didn't exactly change my life, but it gave my law firm a new direction. My firm specializes in strategic transactions - initial public offerings, private placements, mergers & acquisitions - but we had steered clear of reverse mergers because of the uncertainty and confusion. Feldman and Dresner cleared up that confusion we now offer reverse mergers as part of our services.
   
   This book showed the mechanics of structuring a reverse merger, how to create shell corporations and guidelines on financing. It covers due diligence, securities filings and and plenty of mistakes to avoid.
   
   Whether you're an attorney, accountant, investment banker, business owner or private investor, this book will offer you an new strategy for growth and finance by way of reverse mergers.



2. Only a few years ago, it seemed that nearly every company was going public with an IPO. Now many quality companies are locked out of the IPO market, but companies have other ways to go public. One of the most popular paths is a "reverse merger." In this transaction, your private company merges into a public company (often a "shell") and controls it, giving you a public stock with which to raise capital. This may sound shady, but it's not: many well-known companies have gone public through reverse mergers, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Turner Broadcasting System, Occidental Petroleum and Blockbuster Entertainment. Experienced Wall Street securities attorney David N. Feldman takes you through the reverse merger process in detail. The book is wonderfully clear and thorough, and should become the definitive textbook on reverse mergers. It is, however, a dry read. A profusion of technical rules and especially acronyms (SPAC, SOX, Form 10-B, Rule 419, Regulation A, SB-2, PIPE) make the book slightly MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) for the uninitiated - but then, they are not its target audience. We enthusiastically recommend this book to sophisticated investors, lawyers, accountants, investment bankers and executives who want all the details on this increasingly popular financing technique.



3. With this book, David Feldman takes the mystery out of reverse mergers. Going public via an APO (alternative public offering) is a legitimate way to take a micro-cap company public while raising the necessary funds to grow the business. His strategies and insights, written in plain English, are invaluable for any CEO/CFO who is contemplating a reverse merger, especially after the recent SEC rulings. I would, however, caution that the book is not a do-it-yourself "how-to-guide" but rather a starting point to get acquainted with the reverse merger process. My biggest take-away is to make sure you bring in a capable and experienced team of advisers to make the reverse merger process a seamless transaction.



4. 
   I liked this book. It's probably not one that a small business owner would be particularly interested in reading. But I think it would be relevant. I found it to be well written and well outlined. And it didn't take me all that long to get from page one to the end. But I am a CPA and attorney. That might have helped me out a little.
   
   The author is a securities attorney. He consults to companies that are not public, but would like to be. He advises them how to do what are called "Reverse Mergers" so their nonpublic company can merge into an already public company and voila - be a public company. This book explains how a reverse merger works - both from a business and a legal perspective.
   
   Without a doubt this book is a marketing piece for the author and his 23-attorney law firm. If a client approaches him and doesn't know much about reverse mergers, then the author can either charge by the hour for an explanation, or hand the prospect a copy of this book. The prospect would be well advised to accept this book and read it and save a ton of money.
   
   From reading the book it appeared that reverse mergers are not all that popular these days. It's difficult or expensive to find a target in which to merge. And then there are the legal fees. But it certainly is an option. And one that should be considered when planning to take a company public. 5 stars!
   
   PS. Examine the Search Inside feature provided by Amazon for this book. It includes the book's Table of Contents which will tell you more specifically than I what is included in this book.



5. I'll let all the others leave more wordy reviews. Suffice it to say that I feel this book takes you to an entirely higher level of understanding on the topic of going public with your company.
   The author is THE MAN in the entire world on this subject.
   He is in a class by himself and does an outstanding job of breaking it down into layman terms.
   BUY THIS BOOK!

5 comments about The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES).

1. This thorough, detailed book focuses on the misunderstood aspects of merger and acquisition management. Timothy J. Galpin and Mark Herndon clearly have vast experience and draw on case studies to illustrate their suggestions. They provide sample surveys and integration flow charts to guide hands-on planning, and offer practical advice that you can apply in real-world situations. Not all of these ideas are new, nor do the authors claim them to be. Instead, they apply the most relevant ideas from management and psychology to M&A. The authors hammer home an extremely consistent message: You must communicate. They present their ideas clearly, even though the book is often wordy and uses a lot of passive voice (alas, business prose). Nonetheless, this is actually a very dense book and the authors are careful not to waste the reader's time. This is essential reading for virgin M&A managers, and we at getAbstract think that even experienced acquirers may find much to learn.



2. Having been a manager at a large company, I can see how this book would be beneficial for managers at large companies that are doing acquisitions. But from the perspective of a manager at a smaller company that is being acquired, this book was not particularly helpful.



3. This is a very nice review of M&A's taking place in the late 90's good to get an overview of the M&A keys to success.



4. I find myself referring to it often and have been able to use several of their tools as baseline templates for creating my own.



5. The merger and aqcuisitions book I've obtained via Amazone proved everything the review said. It's a comprehensive and very practical guideline and collection of checklists. i can recommend it to anyone entering or working in the M&A arena,
   
   Rene Manders

5 comments about The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America.

1. I recently readed Buffet's biography where I firstly get a glance on his investment philosophy. Then I read this essays extracted from his Berkshire's annual reports to the shareholders and was delighted to find such a refreshing view on investment and business economics. His approach is simple and he share his views on common terms that an average person will understand.



2. What can I say except for the book is by god himself. It is an easy and interesting read. highly recommended to all those who want to get an idea on how to invest in stocks successfully!



3. The best book on investment ever. Had a lot of humour as well as a great education on investments. Very simple, easy to read and understand. It is also a combination of Fisher and Benjamin Graham.



4. This book provides such simple, common sense advice you read it and think to yourself: "I know that, so why don't I do it?" Distractions, impatience and emotions represent the three challenges most investors and managers will face on a regular basis, Warren Buffett seems to have a way of drilling down to what's most important in the decision making process, and he provides blazingly clear and simple insight on how to create superior value, both for your company and through your investments.



5. Crazyman's Economics
   
   Warren Buffet is a true success story when it comes to American entrepreneurs. If you follow his advice, your chances of making money in the market will increase, but you're still gambling on a game of chance. Buffett himself admits that the greater the motion, the smaller the return to the investor.
   
   In the end, we should celebrate Buffett's success and his willingness to share his advice. But please remember, that Buffett's advice will not make you any richer than a book on basketball by Michael Jordan will make you a hall-of fame basketball player.

No comments about M&A Titans: The Pioneers Who Shaped Wall Street's Mergers and Acquisitions Industry.

3 comments about Managing Change and Transition.

1. This is one of several paperbacks in the "Essentials" series, each of which offers "cutting edge" thinking on a major business subject. Mike Beer served as the adviser to Richard Luecke while he wrote this volume. Brief information about both is provided. There are seven chapters following an Introduction in which Luecke observes that "Accepting the necessity and inevitability of change enables [all companies and their decision-makers] to see times of transition not as threats but as opportunities -- opportunities for reinventing the company and its culture." Indicators include a merger, acquisition, or divestiture; the launch of a new product or service; a new leader; or a new technology. "In this book you will learn how to manage change constructively, and how to help your company, division, and people deal with the upheavals of change. You'll also learn practical things you can do to make change initiatives more successful and less painful for the people you manage."

   Each of the seven chapters (which are arranged in a logical sequence) focuses on a separate but related component of effective management of change and transition. For example, in Chapter 2, Luecke explains why leaders must be respected and effective for change to happen, the role of motivation in change-readiness, the importance of a nonhierarchical culture in implementing change, and then offers several "tips" on how to become "change ready." To me, one of the most valuable chapters is the sixth (in which Luecke examines the four stages of reaction to change (i.e. shock, defensive retreat, acknowledgment, and acceptance and adaptation), how individuals can help themselves navigate change, how managers can help employees cope with change, and alternative ways for managers to think about change registers.

   At the conclusion of each of the seven chapters, Luecke offers an especially useful "Summing Up" section which facilitates a periodic review of key points. I also appreciate the provision of Appendix A ("Useful Implementation Tools") and Appendix B ("How to Choose and Work with Consultants"), both of which provide basic but sound information to supplement material covered in the previous chapters.

   Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Jim O'Toole's Leading Change, William Bridges' Transitions and Managing Transitions and Jon Katzenbach's Real Change Leaders, all of which are available in paperback editions.




2. Best text on managing change I have encountered. A great addition to my management and leadership collection! Rita Shaw Rone, Ph.D.



3. Institutional change can be scary, but this Harvard Business Essentials entry does a solid job of demystifying it. The book provides immediately applicable conceptual tools, from broad theoretical frameworks to specific tables and checklists you can use during the change process. It pushes readers to take action, but only action they have planned, tested and researched. Its suggestions have all been shown to work in many situations. The book's brevity makes it easy to use, but it also means that a number of complex issues are only sketched out, leaving the reader to figure out how to best apply them. We, therefore, recommend this competent starting text to managers who are just beginning to think about guiding change, and to experienced change managers who can extrapolate its ideas and will welcome it as a focused reference.

5 comments about Applied Mergers and Acquisitions (Wiley Finance).

1. I found the book to be very difficult to follow in that it seems to be written for graduate level courses on the subject, with very little practical application. The book provides a detailed literature review but it is a bit dated. There is nothing about the rise of private equity and hedge funds in recent years. The book would also benefit from the use of more examples. Its sheer size and number of chapters makes it a bit disjointed.



2. Very complete but not a "how to.." guide.
   A great and thought provoking resource.
   Should be on every investment banker book shelf



3. This is the most complete book on M&A. I got the CD version that costs alot more. The content on the CD is good. But, if you dont want to spend money on the cd, the no-cd edition will make your day anyways



4. I needed this book for business school, but our student store did not have the copy with the CD-ROM. Purchasing the book with the disc was a huge plus. It has very helpful examples and exercises of some pretty intimidating math.



5. Comprehensive M&A reference
   getAbstract suspects that this comprehensive text by Robert F. Bruner, one of the leading academic authorities on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), will prove nearly indispensable to any student or executive seeking a thorough introduction to the subject. Much of what has been written about M&A reflects a bias toward or against deals, oversimplifies, ignores important facts or promotes the business of an advisory firm. Bruner, however, addresses M&A with both scholarly objectivity and an appreciation for practical realities. His discussion of whether M&A deals on the whole create or destroy value raises points that seem to have eluded the attention of many economists. At the same time, he is quite aware of the limits of economic analysis, and gives appropriate emphasis to psychological and behavioral dimensions.

3 comments about Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z.

1. The author explains the distinction between a merger combination and the purchasing of assets in an acquisition by the buyer.
   Mergers involve considerable restructuring and revaluations
   as a condition precedent to success. Classic merger difficulties
   involve indecision, tying in loose ends and optimal timing.
   Potential sellers seek to build value ; wherein, buyers seek to
   acquire and nurture value. Acquisitions involve conceptual
   formulation, action planning, overcoming hurdles and offering
   memoranda. Due diligence involves an intensive study of the factors driving the deal. These factors involve title, staffing issues, environmental liability, ongoing litigation and
   "dressing up the financial statements" in anticipation of the sale. Buyer errors involve poor communications, lack of planning,
   inadequate timing and review of the corporate records of the
   seller. The acquisition is well worth the price charged for the
   significant value of the information contained.



2. You know you need to know more about Mergers and Acquisitions. The question is where do you start. For many the answer is Mergers & Acquisitions from A to Z.
   
   Another book on this subject that is well recieved is: Mergers and Acquisitions Basics : The Key Steps of Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Investments.



3. This book provides a comprehensive view on the mechanics of mergers & acquisitions. It is worth the money.

5 comments about The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity (Vintage).

1. This gets my vote for the best book in the category of "What's Wrong with our Country and How to Fix It." Other books spend the first 300 or so pages describing all that is wrong and then come on like the cavalry with their own formula solution. Not so with Kuttner's book. He makes it clear throughout that the problem is laissez-faire capitalism, manipulated by financial elites, and that the answer is managed capitalism, responsive to a democracy.
   
   The book is a great read for those of us who get all worked up about political economy, populism vs. elitism and the personalities of domestic politics and finance during the last half century. Kuttner has many specific suggestions for improving economic security for those of us who are not wealthy. However, he focuses primarily on increasing wages, benefits and employment security, not on building income from owning capital.
   
   There would be a limit, however, to what the government can do to make managers accountable to shareowners. As shown in the book's chapter, "Wall Street Rules," even the regulatory reforms of the 1930s did not fix the disengagement between individuals and corporate management. There needs to be a different, direct relationship between the ultimate providers of capital and the stewards of that capital.
   
   What government could do is encourage direct ownership of business, through changes in the tax laws and securities laws. Individuals could receive a tax credit for the amount invested, up to an annual limit. (The credit directly reduces taxes by the same amount, in contrast to a deduction, which only reduces taxable income.) Businesses would have to meet corporate governance standards of shareowner rights, director independence and limits on executive power and compensation. Investors would need to meet some basic educational or experience requirements. People who aren't already qualified could take a course through local community colleges or high schools. Interest, dividends and capital gains would be taxed at the going rates, recovering taxes to offset the investment credit.
   
   This would empower individuals to bring the discipline to corporate management that has not come from government regulation. If we had active, informed individual ownership of corporations, the opportunities would be reduced for private equity firms to join with management in buying and reselling a corporation. It may seem like a complex, politically difficult proposal, full of potential objections. But more government rules just mean that lobbyists and lawyers earn big fees finding new ways to do the same old thing.



2. I am very satisfied with the way the deal was made in purchasing this book. Book arrived in the specified time, price was fantastic and the seller is very reliable and trustworthy.



3. These days, bad economic news is plentiful. But according to economist Robert Kuttner, the future is even bleaker than the numbers suggest. The reason, he says, is that the two major parties have become cheerleaders for laissez-faire, forgetting the lessons of the Great Depression that market failures are widespread. Kuttner argues that financial derivatives, inequitable trade policies, union-busting and economic bubbles have weakened the economy. Wall Street has become enormously powerful, while politicians have been looking the other way. Although the book draws on academic research, it is clearly written and accessible to a broad audience. getAbstract recommends it to political and business leaders, policy makers and citizens concerned about the implications of deterioration in the U.S. political and economic system.



4. In this hard-hitting (naming names), but profoundly human book, Robert Kuttner analyses the reasons why the US is very close to losing its democracy, not just by rigged rules and stolen elections, but by the domination of politics by big money, the decline of political participation by ordinary people and the assault on basic constitutional liberties (using foreign threats to undermine freedom at home).
   
   Economics
   The squandering of America is the result of the deliberate dismantling of a managed form of capitalism, guaranteeing broadly diffused prosperity, better economic efficiency and higher stability in the system. The dismantling was called free markets and free trade (better dirty free trade, because agricultural products are untouchables).
   For R. Kuttner, rightly, free trade sacrifices the general interest for the self-interest of economic elites (`the class solidarity of insiders'). It resulted in a chronic structural trade deficit (making the US totally dependent on foreign banks), a collapse of the US manufacturing grid and the destruction of good wage contracts.
   Free markets are not better, because they are in no way reliable for providing (full) employment, decent wages, education, health care, clean air and water, economic stability, safety and the honesty of financial agents.
   
   Finance
   Financial deregulation increased inequalities, reduced economic efficiencies and increased economic risks.
   Extreme swings in retail gas prices, stealing of pension funds by take-over `artists' or disbursing 250B$ in fees for mutual fund managers between 1997 and 2002 while millions of investors suffered a net loss, can hardly be seen as financial efficiency.
   As Robert (!) Triffin in the 1960s correctly predicted the fall of the dollar, Robert Kuttner predicts now a serious decline of the dollar and the general US living standard.
   
   Government policies
   The conservative recipe of cutting domestic spending, of hugely increasing military outlays and cutting taxes for the wealthy, diminished vastly opportunities (education), security (jobs, health care) and living standards for the vast majority of the population. The resulting huge budget deficits were to be `solved' by cuts in social spending.
   
   Politics
   Money is the prime political currency in the US. Politics are there to serve the money holders, not democracy. The Bush II Administration spent more effort on suppressing voting than on expanding it.
   However, the ultimate test of a democracy is whether it is possible to throw out those in power. For R. Kuttner, the answer is YES. Therefore, real democracy should be revived. Mass quiescence is indeed a great convenience and a splendid political success for financial elites.
   
   Robert Kuttner's brilliantly argued book is a must read for all those wanting to understand (and influence) the world we live in.



5. Re-issued this November with a new preface, the author predicted a huge failure in the stock market, just before Wall Street took a huge nosedive and Congress planned its largest bailout ever. The author originally wrote warning of economic conditions in 1997, and the market fell in 2001-02.
   
   Kuttner contents that the tremendous stock swings have not been due to Federal regulations, which he says are virtually nonexistent, but rather to the fundamentalist rightward swing that our politics and politicians have taken in the last eight years.
   
   He writes extensively of Wall Street's history, saying that an unfettered market encourages insider trading and favoritism, and that the combination of laissez-faire government and big-bank and broker greed have given us an economy where credit card debt is soaring, with ordinary citizens no longer able to afford adequate health care, new homes or college educations for their children.
   
   Kuttner backs everything up and writes how conditions today are ominously like those of 1929 just before the crash and the Great Depression. He says the country will need a return to some kind of stock market regulation-and he ties this to a return to basic American freedoms. Nor is he optimistic that this will happen soon. He cites scientific studies which show that while costs of such things as health care, education and housing have risen tremendously, middle/lower class real wages and earnings have stagnated at a level they had thirty years ago. Only the top 10 percent of this country got richer, he says, and the highest returns went to the top one percent of that.
   
   With massive grassroots ` voting in this recent presidential election, it looks like most of the country is searching for a dramatic change in the way it does business and politics. It will give Kuttner's theories a unique test in the coming four years, to see if America can pull itself out of foreign fiscal debt, stop American jobs going overseas, and recapture those lost freedoms. Otherwise, he doesn't hold out much hope. It's a big order to ask of anyone.
   
   The book's figures and studies support its contentions and will provoke a firestorm of debate among people who want to know "what went wrong."
   
   Armchair Interviews says: The author is a political analyst, was a regular columnist with Business Week, a graduate of Oberlin College, and co-founder of The American Prospect magazine.

5 comments about Bear-Trap: The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008.

1. The book is very well written. Contents and events are explained in a manner that is very approachable for the non finance professional. The book gives you a very good blow by blow account of what it is like to be in the trenches of a financial institution that is about to fail.



2. Nothing new here. If one read the papers, he would be as informed as after finishing the book. Moreover, the author wants us to understand how intellectual he is by presenting historical facts which for the most part are irrelevant. And the whole discourse on being a "tragic hero" is just pitiful. I am not sure where the author is now, but I think he should stick to trading derivatives!



3. Now more than ever this book should be required reading in every American High School. Prior to reading this book listening to business commentary was like listening to a square dance mc. In a square dance everyone seems to know just what to do, and when to move, but for me, a native new yorker, it's just jibberish. So I was worried when i picked up this book that I wouldn't be able to understand what the hell the author was talking about. But was I wrong! The author did an exceptional job explaining to me, a person who never took a class in business, how an investment bank works. Now I know what leverage is and what hostile takeovers are, and now when i watch business news and they they talk about CDOs, and LIBOR, and basis points, I know what they are talking about. The author also did an exception job explaining exactly what a sub prime mortgage is, and I know that a lot of Americans hear this word every day, and don't really know what they are and how they helped cause a lot of the problems that are occurring today. So to all my fellow Americans you must go out and read this book, now more than ever it's imperitive that we learn about the basics of banking so we can make informed decisions about our economy, and dance to the rewards



4. This book provides a step by step account of life on the trading floor and
   it gives good insight into what happened to this powerful company.
   I believe the author did an excellent job of describing the mood of
   everyone involved and was written in a way almost everyone could understand.
   I was somewhat familiar with what was happening however this definetly
   added a good amount of first hand insight.
   Overall I found this to be a good read that helped increase understanding
   of why things came crashing down.



5. My heart goes out to everyone at Bear, and the author here was first to get a book on this topic off the press. Unfortunately, it was written from the perspective of an "unconnected observer" of the events, and therefore lacks any credibility regarding "providing an insiders account". I got more info from reading the Financial Times than this book. It also shows the speed to rush this to the press because the number of typos in the book actually compelled me to return it to Amazon for a refund, aside from the fact that 80% of the way through the book, I still haven't read a single thing worth my dime. Why did I give 2 starts instead of 1? Because this author got the book out first. That deserves some recognition.

5 comments about Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.

1. The mantra "Greed is good" was uttered by that 1980s paragon of Wall Street virtue, Gordon Gekko, yet it could just have easily been any one profiled in this mind-warping 1990 account of the leveraged buyout (LBO) of cigarette-and-cookie conglomerate RJR Nabisco, starting with RJR's chief executive, Ross Johnson.
   
   Johnson was the one who first saw the benefits of taking RJR's undervalued stock private, boosting both his wealth and control. Small economies were not for him.
   
   "I'm telling you, we're not going to start running a pushcart operation here," he tells his LBO partners at the outset. "I don't want a bunch of your guys coming around saying we should have five jets instead of six."
   
   Those jets, used strictly by Johnson and his C-suite buddies for such emergencies as shuttling Johnson's beloved pet dog to safety after it bit someone, were one of many symbols of Johnson excess. Just as odd were his stabs at practicality, like introducing a smokeless cigarette, "Premier", which drew like chalk and tasted worse.
   
   Authors Bryan Burroughs and John Helyar, who covered the story in 1988 for the Wall Street Journal, seem to have been everywhere at once, and show no sign of suffering from lack of access. Whether it's LBO king and Johnson nemesis Henry Kravis, other bidding groups led by First Boston and Forstmann Little, or the RJR management board, everyone seems well represented. One gets the feeling some of these people enjoyed the chance to tell of their small part in one of the biggest stories of the decade.
   
   Yet nothing seemed on the level here, least of all the money put up by the bidders, which had a heavy reliance on junk bonds. Numbers themselves made no sense. At one point in the bidding, Kravis engineers a deal whereby he and his partners are paid their operating expenses by RJR in exchange for hanging around another hour.
   
   "Forty-five million dollars to wait sixty minutes. Incredibly [RJR head legal adviser Peter] Atkins and Company thought it was a good deal."
   
   Burroughs and Helyar's greatest accomplishment is by sending you deep enough behind the looking glass that you understand Atkins' position. The authors do a great job of bringing the rest of the fantasy world to life with welcome doses of color and wit.
   
   At times, especially at the end, they get hung up with the level of detail they present, telling us not only who was at a particular meeting but where they sat, who was eating an apple, who was wearing a puff handkerchief, what color it was, etc.
   
   But the book is solid and well-written, and not nearly as snippy as it could have been. Only Johnson's buddy Ed Horrigan comes off as a complete hardcase. Johnson himself seems fairly amiable even at his greediest.
   
   The well-remembered HBO adaptation softsoaps Johnson further by having him played by the quintessentially smooth James Garner. It's an enjoyable movie that made me want to read this. Now I find the book preferable for the more balanced way it handles other characters like Kravis and Ted Forstmann (a joke character in the movie, but a prescient figure in the book who came up with the expression that makes for the title.) There are a lot of brickbats in evidence here, but no axes.
   
   Greed is still with us, of course, yet "Barbarians" takes us to a time when it managed at once to be more comical and stylish than today.



2. Many people I know have read this book and rave about how good it is. However it is really just a factual account of the events with no real insight. The writing is ok but you are not transformed into the action. You get no since of the pressure or the egos. The characters are the real deal and the writes don't all you to understand them or even get you to like or hate them. The book left me a bit flat but if you have no idea how companies are bought and offers are made it is still worth the read. If you know how companies are bought it is worth the read just to be scared to death.



3. The author said it himself, "What does all this have to do with business? ". I bought this book hoping to get an insight into how large companys are run. Unfortunately it was full of details on how companys are sold, not run. I suppose if that is what you are after, then the book does its job. But if you wanted to learn something about real business, this is NOT the book for you.



4. Definition of a page-turner, loved it. The authors got so much out of their interview subjects, the personal thoughts and dialog left you feeling like you were a part of these negotiations. They portrayed everyone even-handedly when it was probably tempting to make villains out of Ross Johnson or Henry Kravis. Extremely entertaining, a first class example of literary non-fiction.



5. Jump right into the middle of one of the biggest and most tumultuous leveraged buyouts in history. After reading this book, you will feel as though you know the players involved...everybody from F. Ross Johnson at RJR Nabisco to Peter Atkins, the lawyer from Skadden Arps who handled the bidding. The information contained in this book is worth at least 6 semester hours toward your MBA! In fact, I'd venture to say that reading books like "Barbarians at the Gate" will leave you better prepared than almost any MBA program in the United States.
   
   Can you tell I loved this book????