Book excerpt: The 1980s saw the beginning of the greatest merger boom in history. Year after year, the number of mergers and acquisitions climbed. Mergers between large companies make headlines, but companies of any size may find it beneficial to engage in mergers and acquisitions. Author H. Lee Rust explains the basics of acquisitions in clear, simple prose for companies that are too small to make the evening news. His book will be most useful to small- and medium-sized firms whose leaders lack experience in acquisitions. He provides sound, practical advice, easy-to-use checklists, and a CD-ROM workbook with spreadsheets, calculations, sample letters and more. If you manage a small company, getAbstract suggests reading this book before you get involved in your first acquisition.