Barbarians at the Gate

Investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar reconstruct the fight over the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, the largest takeover Wall Street had seen, during two months in late 1988. Growing out of articles they wrote for The Wall Street Journal, the narrative centres on F. Ross Johnson, the company's chief executive, who planned to buy out the remaining shareholders. Henry Kravis of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, who felt betrayed when Johnson took the deal to Shearson Lehman Hutton, mounted a rival bid, and Ted Forstmann and a First Boston team also circled. The authors move between boardrooms, strategy meetings and society dinners to show how a deal of this size gets done. HBO later turned it into a television film.

It appears on the book list Bill Liao, general partner at SOSV, gave in an interview, and on How to Web co-founder Bogdan Iordache's list of recommended books.