Johnson County Community College
Press Release

College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Associate Vice President, Marketing Communications, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

10/01/09
Story by Peggy Graham

JCCC hosts ‘Public Enemies’ author Bryan Burrough

Bryan Burrough

Best-selling author Bryan Burrough will present Public Enemies: The True Story at 11 a.m.  Monday, Nov. 2, in the Craig Community Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Burrough's book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 is the definitive account of the 1930s crime wave that brought notorious criminals like Bonnie and Clyde to America's front pages. A major movie based on the book, also named Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as the legendary bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale as his nemesis, FBI agent Melvin Purvis, was released this summer.

The movie Public Enemies will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the Craig Community Auditorium. The noon showing is free; evening is 50 cents for students with JCCC ID and $1 for the public.

Burrough is currently a special correspondent at Vanity Fair magazine and the author of five books.

A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1983, Burrough became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. From 1983 to 1992,  he reported from Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh and, during the late 1980s, covered the busy mergers and acquisitions beat in New York. He is a three-time winner of the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism.

In 1990, Burrough and John Helyar co-authored Barbarians at the Gate, the story of the fight for control of RJR Nabisco. The No. 1 New York Times best-seller has been hailed as one of the most influential business narratives of all time and was made into an HBO movie in 1993.

Burrough joined Vanity Fair in 1992,  where he has reported from Hollywood, Nepal, Moscow, Tokyo and Jerusalem. His subsequent books include Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra (1992) and Dragonfly: An Epic Story of Survival in Space (1998).

Burrough's most recent release, The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes (2009) enjoyed weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list and garnered rave reviews. Burrough profiles the Big Four oil dynasties of H.L. Hunt, Roy Cullen, Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson, along with their cronies, rivals and families.

In addition to consulting work for 60 Minutes and various Hollywood studios, Burrough has authored numerous book reviews and OpEd articles in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. He has appeared on TODAY, Good Morning America and in many documentary films.

Burrough now lives in Summit, N.J.

Sponsor for Burrough’s talk and the Public Enemies movie is JCCC’s Campus Activities Board. For more information, call the student activities desk, 913-469-3807.

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