Once again Robert Bruner produced yet another excellent book about Mergers and Acquisitions. This time the subject is M&A failure and the pitfalls of following an M&A strategy. Robert is the Dean of the Darden School of Business – University of Virginia, one of the top business schools in the United States, and he is the author of several other books including the premier M&A text book used in most MBA courses in the US and abroad – Applied Mergers and Acquisitions (John Wiley & Sons).

If you Google “M&A failure” on the internet you will get a plethora of results that will take you weeks to review. The subject has been written about many times. Bruner provides a fresh look at the history of M&A marriages that started in heaven and ended in hell. His experience consulting and educating M&A executives is vast and his anecdotal stories are a must-read for M&A professionals. He reviews deals such as: AOL and Time Warner, Mattel and The Learning Company, Snapple and Quaker Oats, NCR and AT&T and more. I enjoyed reading Deals From Hell very much and since I know Robert personally, I enjoyed this quick-read produced by this highly impressive scholar on the subject of M&A. I highly encourage M&A professionals to pick up this book and read it on the next long trip to Shanghai or any other long plane ride. Also, consider attending an executive program offered by one of the top MBA schools such as Darden, Wharton or others near you. You won’t regret picking this book up and hopefully you will learn from the mistakes of others as opposed to your own.