Rating: 
Summary: Barbarians Get Eaten
Review: This mock epic novel is a real cracker {excuse the pun). One of the most infamous take over events in the 1980s has been exposed in full by this book. The RJR Nabisco Leverage Buy Out attempt finally exposed the greed and ruthless business accumen of the era. Very enjoyable to read with the exception of you knowing that the end result still has far reaching consequences to this very day.
Rating:
Summary: A Case Study of Greed in the 1980's
Review: For starters I would like to say that I saw the movie of the same title (several times - but I like James Garner) before I read the book. The movie is a comedy which successfully captures the spirit of this book, but this book is not a comedy. The authors do an excellent job of developing the characters by telling how they rose to their respective positions at this focal point, and telling the story as it unfolds. It is like all of the worst traits of humanity - greed, ego, pride, vanity, a hunger for power and conquest and victory - are played out in this true story of the LBO (Leveraged BuyOut) of RJR Nabisco. Companies being tossed around like commodities, while the little guy who works hard to make a living suffers. This is the only book I have read on this subject to date. Some of the other reviewers have suggested other titles, and many of them are probably worth reading as well. Five stars.
Rating:
Summary: A clasic story and a vital book for students of business
Review: This is one of the great books of business. Not only is it a great story in its own right, the authors were able to put together the facts of the story in an incredibly lively and detailed way. They paint this story on a big enough canvas to let a large cast of incredible characters act out their part in this amazing saga. The easy larger than life characters are Ross Johnson, Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Peter Cohen, and maybe even Ted Forstmann, but there are so many more. There were so many times a deal could have been put together and most likely should have been, but in each instance it slipped away because one ego or another wanted to carve its initials in the bark of what was then the largest deal in history. For those of us who are interested in how business really works, this is one of the epics in business history. It begins with the founding of the companies involved and the rather amazing story of how Ross Johnson ended up at the helm of RJR Nabisco. The book also gives plenty of evidence of Wall Streeters seeking out their own interest over their clients' needs and desires and contrary to their own promises and assurances. You will become convinced of the aptness of Ross Johnson's adage about the rules of behavior on Wall Street: "Never play by the rules, never tell the truth, and never pay in cash". Another of the many things I enjoyed about this book is that the personalities of the major and secondary characters are given enough room to become more than just stick figures. There are times you will want to support them, when you will root for them, when you will be appalled by their behavior and ego, and other times you will laugh until your sides hurt. This isn't a simple story drawn with stick figures. If you want to understand American business, this is one of the stories you simply have to know. While the movie made from this book is quite good and very funny, it doesn't offer you the full range of characters involved nor the detail of the actual negotiations and how the deal finally came to its strange end. The movie captures the mood and the essentials of the story and that might be enough for most. I recommend the movie for those who want the story in broad strokes. However, if you want to really gain an understanding of how this deal in particular and how business deals in general really come together and fall apart, the book is the way to go. The people involved become more three dimensional in the book and where some events and characters are left out or compressed in the movie the book has the room to let the story be told more fully. It isn't that the book is the ultimate truth (I am sure every person involved could point to things they find inadequate in the book), it is that the authors dug hard, got as much of the truth as they could get to and shared it with us in an intelligent, enlightening and often humorous way. This is a great book I would recommend to anyone, but it is a must read for students of business.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: BARBARIANS AT THE GATE reads like a work of fiction. To compare this book to fiction is quite a compliment to its authors. Just as easily, they could have been reported this story as a dry and dreary episode in the chronicle of this nation's business conglomerates. Instead, they focus on the very real players in these dealings, a group of people who were living large at the end of the 1980's. This was a decade of ostentatious successes and conspicuous consumption, so these people and their lifestyles make wonderful copy. Along the way, the authors use their stories to flesh out the cut-and-dried business machinations which made them rich and famous. BARBARIANS AT THE GATE is a lively account of a very specific moment in the financial history of our nation.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough - maybe too much so
Review: This is an amazingly thorough account of the RJR/Nabisco LBO story of the late 80s. It does a good job of noting the influence of junk bonds, the pervasive greed in the culture of wall street, and the complex wranglings associated with a buyout. The book is exceptionally readable. My main criticisms are (1) it is too thorough: it is easy to tire of the endless discussions-of-only-minor-substance between some of the parties; many of these conversations sound the same and it quickly becomes something one would rather skim over and (2) the book, while providing some basic education on LBOs, doesn't address some of the details as well as it could. For example, there is no detailed explanation of how junk bonds work or what rules goven the ownership of public or private companies. I had to turn elsewhere for such info and I think that the authors could easily complement what they already have with such material. Nonetheless, if there is one book about Wall St in the mid/late 80s you should read, it should be this one.
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate account but somewhat un-interesting
Review: A very good book that is extremely thorough. If you want to know how deals were done on Wall St in the 1980s, this book is for you. To a large extent, it is also about the riches of the time -- the air force of RJR, for example. In the end, what we have are people who claw their way to the top not necessarily for money anymore, but to relieve their boredom (Ross Johnson) and to gain more power (Kravis). The book is a little long in the sense that at least 4/5 of it are devoted to the deal process (I think it could have been 100 pages shorter), but still worth it, esp for those intent on getting the details behind the deal. I guess in 1991 that was a little more interesting than it is now. Another good corporate read, although not a book about Wall St deals per se, is The Informant.
Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: I never thought a book about LBO's would keep me on the edge of my seat. Fantastic storytelling is at work here in this account of one of the most spectacular financial deals in recent memory and the epitome of the rapacious greed of the 80's. The book has just the right combination of character development, excitement, investigative journalism and humor to make this a most memorable read. While some of the conversations and events are obviously constructed, the authors go through considerable lengths to make the book historically accurate; this does not in any way detract from its dramatic appeal. This would have made a great novel; that it actually happened makes it even better. This book deserves a much broader audience than just Wall St.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best of the Subject
Review: This book is a description of the largest leveraged-buy out of the 80's. The book covers the management buy out of RJR and all the financial moves that took place to get it done. It covers the winners and losers and the tactics they used. The authors are investigative reports so they have the ability to provide the reader with a very well constructed and easy to understand story. They really bring the reader into the negotiations and all the high pressure and tension is coved to the reader. The most fun was when the authors took to describing all the financial players involved, their egos and ways of life and doing business. The excesses of some of the companies detailed are really something.
If you are interested in this topic then I would suggest you also read "Den of Thieves" and "Predator's Ball", both of which cover the 80's M&A and Junk Bond world. To get a better understanding of KKR, I would suggest "Masters of Debit" and if you are looking for more info on this particular deal I would suggest "True Greed".
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: This may be the most entertaining business book ever written. There are more whiplashing twists in this book than most works of fictional literature. Absolutely fascinating story of the biggest, and most irresponsible pre-internet deal of the century. The LBO was to the eighties what the pre-mature ipo was to the late 90's. Very well written and thorough, this is one of the best books I have ever read on any subject.
Rating:
Summary: A Good business book!
Review: This turned out to be a very interesting book once I got into it. This book gave you a blow by blow description of the R.J.
Reynolds Nabisco buyout deal. You get a very good description of some of the people who were involved in making this deal happen.
You get an inside look at some of the companies who were on the
ground floor if this mega deal.Some of the monetary figures and
above all the commissions that were paid out as a result of this
bnuyout were staggering. This book put the deal on paper where a lay person such as myself can understand it. This is a very good
book on the subject of buyouts.Read it. You will not be dissapointed.
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