Best M&A and Deals Books
The best way to prepare for deal-related interview questions is to read about real transactions. These books cover legendary M&A battles and the bankers behind them, giving you the context and deal vocabulary that interviewers expect.
Last updated: February 2026
What These M&A Books Cover
Leveraged Buyouts and Deal Financing
Several books on this list go deep into how leveraged buyouts are financed, from the debt structures and equity contributions to the competitive dynamics of multi-party bidding wars. Barbarians at the Gate remains the most detailed account of an LBO ever written, and Gods at War covers how deal financing evolved through the 2000s including government-brokered transactions during the financial crisis.
Advisory Banking and Client Relationships
The Last Tycoons offers a rare look inside the advisory-only model that made Lazard Freres one of the most influential banks in the world. Understanding how advisory relationships are built and maintained over decades, and how different banking models create different incentives, is valuable context for anyone interested in the M&A business.
Wall Street Culture and Internal Dynamics
Monkey Business and Greed and Glory on Wall Street approach deal-making from a different angle: the people and culture inside the banks themselves. Monkey Business captures the reality of life as a junior investment banker, while Greed and Glory chronicles how internal power struggles between traders and bankers can destroy even the most established institutions.
How We Selected These Books
We chose these five M&A books based on three criteria: the quality of the deal coverage, the depth of insight into how Wall Street actually operates, and how well they hold up over time. Each book on this list tells a distinct story and teaches something different about the M&A business. Together, they cover the full spectrum of deal-making: hostile takeovers, management buyouts, advisory relationships, legal strategy, and the internal culture of the firms that drive these transactions.
Top 5 M&A and Deals Books for 2026
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar
Our Review
The gold standard of Wall Street storytelling. Burrough and Helyar reconstruct the RJR Nabisco LBO with almost absurd precision, and the result is a book that reads more like a thriller than a finance narrative. The competing bids, the egos, the sheer scale of the deal - it all holds up decades later. The middle section on the tobacco business drags a little, but once the bidding war kicks off, you will not want to put it down. A must-read for anyone genuinely interested in how deals get done.
About This Book
A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate is a modern classic - a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship.
Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle
by John Rolfe & Peter Troob
Our Review
The funniest book about investment banking ever written. Rolfe and Troob are self-deprecating, sharp, and painfully honest about the reality of being a junior banker at DLJ in the late 90s. Yes, DLJ no longer exists. No, that does not matter. The culture they describe, the all-nighters, the absurd pitchbook requests, the internal politics, is still recognizable today. Read this one purely for entertainment value. You will laugh, you will cringe, and you will understand the lifestyle better than any recruiting brochure could explain it.
About This Book
A hilarious insider's glimpse behind the scenes of DLJ, one of the hottest investment banks on Wall Street.
Gods at War: Shotgun Takeovers, Government by Deal, and the Private Equity Implosion
by Steven Davidoff
Our Review
This is the most intellectually rigorous book on this list. Davidoff is a law professor, and it shows: he dissects major deals through a legal and strategic lens that most finance books ignore entirely. The chapters on poison pills, hostile takeover defenses, and the government's role in the Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch rescues are particularly strong. Not the easiest read, but if you are the kind of person who wants to understand why deals are structured the way they are, not just what happened, this is the one to pick up.
About This Book
An engaging exploration of modern-day deals and deal-making
The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co.
by William Cohan
Our Review
A 752-page deep dive into the inner workings of Lazard Freres, and somehow it never feels too long. Cohan's reporting is extraordinary. The feuds between Felix Rohatyn and Steve Rattner, the eccentricities of Michel David-Weill, the way the firm operated on relationships and discretion rather than brute capital, it is a portrait of a world that barely exists anymore. If you are drawn to advisory-focused banking and the idea of building long-term client relationships, this book will resonate deeply.
About This Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A tale of vaulting ambitions, explosive feuds, worldly mistresses, fabulous art collections, and enormous wealth - a story of high drama in the world of high finance. 'Rips the roof off of one of Wall Street's most storied investment banks.' - Vanity Fair
Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman
by Ken Auletta
Our Review
A short, punchy, often overlooked book about the first fall of Lehman Brothers, thirty years before the famous one. Auletta had remarkable access to the key players during the 1984 power struggle between Pete Peterson and Lew Glucksman. The conflict between the trading side and the banking side of the firm is a story that repeats itself across Wall Street, and Auletta captures it with real insight. At under 300 pages, this is an easy weekend read that gives you a perspective on Wall Street culture most people have never encountered.
About This Book
The inside account of a financial meltdown that reshaped Wall Street
How to Choose the Right M&A Book
Not every M&A book serves the same purpose, and the right one for you depends on what you are trying to get out of it. If you want to understand the human side of deal-making, the egos, the negotiations, the pressure, start with a narrative book like Barbarians at the Gate or The Last Tycoons. If you are more interested in the strategic and legal dimensions of how deals are structured and contested, Gods at War is the better starting point.
The books on this list are roughly ordered from most accessible to most specialized. Barbarians at the Gate and Monkey Business require no prior finance knowledge and read like entertainment. Gods at War and The Last Tycoons assume some familiarity with how Wall Street works and reward readers who already have a basic understanding of deal structures. Greed and Glory on Wall Street is the most focused of the five, zeroing in on one firm and one conflict, but it offers an unusually intimate look at how internal culture shapes a bank's trajectory.
If you plan to read more than one, we recommend starting with Barbarians at the Gate for the broadest foundation, then moving to The Last Tycoons for a deeper look at advisory banking, and finishing with Gods at War for the strategic and legal perspective. Monkey Business and Greed and Glory can be read in any order as standalone books.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want More Interview Prep?
Download the IB IQ app for 400+ practice questions and AI mock interviews, or our free interview PDF guide.
Free Interview PDF Guide