Early in "Stealing Time," Alec Klein's deft account of the genesis and collapse of the nation's biggest media merger, Jeff Bewkes lambastes Steve Case at a meeting of top execs as the former AOL chief drones on about synergy and convergence. "This is bullshit. The only division that's not performing is yours. Every one of us is growing, making the numbers. The only problem in this construct is AOL." Dead silence. The outburst, which Klein says was sanctioned earlier by CEO Richard Parsons, was Case's first public dressing down. It wasn't the last. Klein doesn't draw conclusions, but his solid, fast-paced account attributes the debacle to a convergence of hubris and bad judgment by an eccentric mix of characters at a particular moment in history. There are no new revelations — the story's been picked over too many times before. But Klein offers an entertaining window on the times and personalities that turned a grandiose idea into a first-rate mess.