As you look towards a career in private equity, there are some useful reads that will help you gain a historical and current perspective to the industry.

The most famous book related to private equity is a must-read for any individual pursuing a private equity career:

“Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco” by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, is the most influential book regarding a monumental leverage buyout transaction in American business history. Written in 1989 and during the peak of the leverage buyout boom of the 1980’s, this book explains the struggle to control RJR Nabisco Corp. between Henry Kravis and George Roberts of KKR and Ross Johnson, CEO or RJR Nabisco, which ended up being a landmark $25 billion leveraged buyout transaction.  Readers get a sense of the personality traits of successful private equity investors and of a corporate CEO of an American business.

Other books that will help you get further insight to a career in private equity include:

“King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone” by David Carey and John E. Morris

“The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing” by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig and Warren E. Buffet

“Private Equity as an Asset Class” by Guy Fraser-Sampson

“Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Casebook” by Josh Lerner, Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

“Applied Value Investing: The Practical Application of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett’s Valuation Principles to Acquisitions, Catastrophe Pricing and Business Execution” by Jr. Joseph Calandro

Street of Walls Private Equity Guide: We’ve taken all of our knowledge on the Private Equity space and combined this into the best Private Equity resource on the market. We walk through how Private Equity works as well as interview structure and how to land a job.