Indiana State University Newsroom

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Author and journalist Bryan Burrough will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 5 in Indiana State University's Tilson Auditorium to kickoff this year's University Speakers Series. A book signing and reception in Heritage Lounge is planned immediately following his talk. Both the presentation and reception are free and open to the public.

Burrough is a special correspondent at Vanity Fair magazine and the author of five books, including the No. 1 New York Times Best-Seller "Barbarians at the Gate" and the bestselling "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34."

"Public Enemies" is the definitive account of the 1930s crime wave that brought notorious criminals like Bonnie and Clyde to America's front pages. It served as the basis for the recent Universal Studios release "Public Enemies," starring Johnny Depp as legendary bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale as his nemesis, FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

Other books include "Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra" and "Dragonfly: An Epic Story of Survival in Space."

His most recent book, "The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes" profiles the Big Four oil dynasties of H.L. Hunt, Roy Cullen, Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson, along with their cronies, rivals and families.

Burrough, a three-time winner of the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism, was raised in Temple, Texas, and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. From 1983 to 1992 he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he reported from Dallas, Houston, and Pittsburgh as well as covering the busy mergers and acquisitions beat in New York during the late 1980s. Burrough joined Vanity Fair in 1992. He has reported for the magazine from locales as diverse as Hollywood, Nepal, Moscow, Tokyo and Jerusalem.

In addition to consulting work for 60 Minutes and various Hollywood studios, Burrough has appeared in many documentary films.

In conjunction with Burrough's visit, Terre Haute Landmarks, Inc. will host a free showing of "Public Enemies" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Indiana Theatre, 683 Ohio Street in downtown Terre Haute.

More information about the 2009-10 University Speakers Series can be found at http://www.indstate.edu/speaker/  .

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Media Contact and writer: Paula Meyer, ISU Communications & Marketing, (812) 237-3783 or paula.meyer@indstate.edu