Book excerpt: This edited volume offers thorough coverage of the business of investment banking, including much inside information based on the extensive professional experience of the contributors. Comprising 32 chapters, covering every facet of investment banking, from its historical origins in the U.S. to the current high-dollar activity in mergers and acquisitions. Contributors are noted businessmen and academics from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Chapters fall into eight sections: investment banking today, raising capital, transactional activities, specialized financial instruments, tax-exempt financing, broker activities, commercial banks and investment banking, and investment banking outside the United States. Raising capital is traditionally what investment banking is all about, and the Handbook explains who does it and how it's done.