(FORTUNE Magazine) – The newest way to measure a corporate catastrophe? Count the number of book deals it spawns! By that measure, AOL Time Warner--FORTUNE's parent company--has eclipsed even WorldCom, the largest bankruptcy in history. Here's the early buzz. --Melanie Shanley

Title/Author/Publisher/Date STEALING TIME Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of Time Warner by Alec Klein; Simon & Schuster, JULY 2003

AOL Connection Klein broke the AOL accounting scandal story in the Washington Post last summer.

Buzz Low on analysis, high on boy's club anecdotes and boardroom fireworks, the book focuses on the post-merger culture clash. Klein gets points for being the first into print.

[Title/Author/Publisher/Date] THERE MUST BE A PONY IN HERE SOMEWHERE The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future by Kara Swisher with Lisa Dickey; Crown, OCTOBER 2003

[AOL Connection] Swisher is a Wall Street Journal vet; this is the second installment in her AOL canon.

[Buzz] Swisher, who writes partly in the first person, is known for her optimism about tech. She says she hopes that just because the deal went sour, AOL "won't give up" on the promise of digital technology.

[Title/Author/Publisher/Date] FOOLS RUSH IN Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Fall of AOL Time Warner by Nina Munk; HarperCollins, JANUARY 2004

[AOL Connection] Munk has written about the merger for the New York Times and Vanity Fair; she's also a FORTUNE alum.

[Buzz] Munk has written scathingly about what she sees as Steve Case's hubris. Her advance (reportedly $500,000) and splashy writing style have drummed up a lot of buzz.

[Title/Author/Publisher/Date] BRILLIANT MISTAKES Inside the Troubled Marriage Between AOL and Time Warner by Frank Gibney Jr.; Knopf, 2004

[AOL Connection] Gibney covered the merger for Time and is married to FORTUNE's director of communications.

[Buzz] The author has thus far kept a low profile; his book is expected to be the most analytical of the four as he explores "why this happened and what it means going forward."