Reviews - Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

164 reviews for:

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Bryan Burrough, John Helyar

4.21 AVERAGE

biagiomineo's review against another edition

4.5

funny informative tense slow-paced

maxschuman's review against another edition

4.0

informative medium-paced

This book worked for me. If you aren’t scared away by the businessy subject matter, it’s really not dry at all. Written more like a novel than a journalistic retelling, which made it much more readable.

I came away with a sense of how decisions impacting the lives of thousands of people were coming down to the neuroses of a handful of financial professionals. Obviously the exact contours have changed a bit in modern days, but reading this really makes me think about how this is probably still true today.

mattbreading's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 59%

Unbelievably reductive, turns out literally every single Wall Street stereotype is completely true and it’s not even sexy like Wolf of Wall Street. Like if you tasked chat gpt to write an account

nicktommasini's review against another edition

4.75

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

What I Liked: Fantastic, thorough account of a fascinating story told from the perspective of almost every major player involved. Incredibly well researched and comprehensive, but not bogged down in unnecessary details. Extremely interesting and colorful cast of characters, with strong pacing throughout. I appreciated the Epilogue and Afterword for putting a bow on the whole story and outlining what became of the post-LBO company. Finally, highly accessible for anyone looking to read this from a non-technical, non-finance background.

What I Didn’t Like: Not much to complain about, but felt the pacing of the first ~150 pages could have been tightened a bit.