Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Bryan Burrough (b. 1961) is an American author and journalist. His Barbarians at the Gate with John Helyar is considered one of the most important books on business history ever published.

After graduating from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Burroughs went on to work as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in 1983 and Vanity Fair starting in 1992. It was his coverage of RJR Nabisco for The Wall Street Journal that led to the publication of Barbarians at the Gate with John Helyar. Burrough has also written for the Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

He authored several other books, including Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra (1992), Dragonfly: An Epic Story of Survival in Space (1998), The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes (2009), and Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence (2015).

John Helyar (b. 1951) is an American author, journalist, and investment researcher. His reporting with The Wall Street Journal led to the publication of Barbarians at the Gate with Bryan Burrough.

Helyar graduated from Boston University and went on to write for several publications in addition to The Wall Street Journal, including Bloomberg and Fortune magazine.