Barbarians at the Gate * Bryan Burrough, John Helyar

The Fall of RJR Nabisco, a landmark 1990 business book written by investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. The book is a gripping, real-life account of the legendary $25 billion leveraged buyout LBO of the RJR Nabisco Corporation in late 1988. It chronicles a fierce bidding war that fundamentally redefined Wall Street.

Ross Johnson, the flamboyant CEO of food and tobacco giant RJR Nabisco, initiated a plan to take the company private to boost stock value. Johnson's move inadvertently sparked a massive corporate war. Rival Wall Street firms, prominent banks, and private equity giants raced to grab a piece of the action.

Tracks the corporate showdown between Ross Johnson and Henry Kravis, the pioneer of leveraged buyouts and co-founder of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KKR. It provides a deeply detailed look at the financial culture of the 1980s, driven by junk bonds, monumental egos, corporate greed, and backroom deal-making.

Widely considered one of the finest narrative business books ever written, it outlines how the "barbarians" Wall Street private equity firms successfully breached the gates of corporate America. 

First Published 1989. This Edition 1990 by HarperCollins.