Subtitled Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry that owns Everything, Kelly tries to demystify the complex world of private equity through telling the stories of the leading characters and key firms in the industry.

A Bloomberg news reporter, Kelly is familiar with his subject and he traces the mushrooming of this industry from a relatively small niche area of financial service into a globally powerful phenomenon.

The book has a timely edge given the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, a former chief executive of Bain Capital, and is certainly well researched.

Kelly notes that he is trained to look for surprise and that as he researched the book, the omnipresence of the industry surprised even him. So much is owned by the industry, and the appetite to run the numbers on businesses that are not, appears to be relentless.

Kelly does his best to make the complex simple with glossaries and charts; it is a challenging read nonetheless.

Although interesting for the general reader, the book will be of most interest to those who work in the global financial services industry and who can relate readily to the firms under consideration here. (Irishtimes.com, November 2012)

Private equity is everywhere.

Firms like KKR, Blackstone, TPG, and Carlyle have a hand in what we wear and what we eat, by owning some of the world's biggest brands—from Hilton to Dunkin' Donuts and Toys"R"Us to J. Crew. Their influence doesn't stop there. They're investing on behalf of governments, university endowments, and pensions, giving them responsibility for billions in retirement savings. The companies they own employ millions of workers.

In The New Tycoons, Bloomberg News reporter Jason Kelly demystifies the complex world of private equity by telling the stories of the top firms and their leaders. The book details how their role as investors, owners, and employers has put them at the center of our lives.

Through in-depth, exclusive interviews with private equity chieftains including Stephen Schwarzman, David Rubenstein, David Bonderman, Henry Kravis, and others, The New Tycoons explores a cottage investing industry that's blossomed into a global financial force. With on-the-ground reporting, personal observations and richly drawn anecdotes, Kelly takes the story far from Wall Street and into companies controlled by private equity, examining how the business affects us as workers and taxpayers. With the presidential candidacy of former Bain Capital CEO Mitt Romney, and the industry's deepening influence on Main Street, understanding private equity and where it's headed is more important than ever. The New Tycoons offers a compelling examination of a massive, often overlooked, economic engine. You'll discover the untold stories of the most important firms and game-changing individuals that own everything.