Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

1989 • 592 pages

Ratings30

Average rating4

15

Over six months on the New York Times bestseller list, Barbarians at the Gate is the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's gripping record of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 is the story of deal makers and pulicity flaks, of strategy meetings and society dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms, giving us not only an unprecedentedly detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era. As compelling as a novel, Barbarians at the Gate is must reading for everyone interested in the way today's world really works.

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Crazy tale of greed, envy, politics, machismo, and more greed - the true story of the financial shark feeding-frenzy that was the LBO of RJR Nabisco in the '80s.

March 26, 2016
January 7, 2024

I had to abandon it halfway through. It's 600 pages of finance drama, but it could have been compressed to 200 or 300 pages. I just couldn't bear to read the 4th chapter-length backstory of someone who'd turn out to be not too important to the story.

August 2, 2021