From 1993 to 1999 an astounding $2 trillion worth of corporate assets changed hands. American-as-apple-pie companies like Chrysler became part of foreign conglomerates. The biggest bank merged with the biggest insurance company. And the map of international capitalism was radically redrawn. In a book that is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the shape of big business today, legendary deal maker Bruce Wasserstein looks at why it happens, how it happens, and who the key players are in a decade of colossal buyouts and mergers. He takes us inside the boardrooms and high-stakes meetings, where CEOs and investment bankers go toe-to-toe, armed with numbers, bravado, and vision. Highlighting recent blockbuster deals, Wasserstein brilliantly shows how the current era compares to the years and even centuries before it, how technology and government affect these mega-mergers and buyouts, and, most important, what it means for us -- and for our future.