Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. RockefellerHow a female investigative journalist brought down the world’s greatest tycoon and broke up the Standard Oil monopoly. Long before the rise of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Microsoft, Standard Oil controlled the oil industry with a monopolistic force unprecedented in American business history. Undaunted by the ruthless power of its owner, John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), a fearless and ambitious reporter named Ida Minerva Tarbell (1857–1944) confronted the company known simply as “The Trust.” Through her peerless fact gathering and devastating prose, Tarbell, a muckraking reporter at McClure’s magazine, pioneered the new practice of investigative journalism. Her shocking discoveries about Standard Oil and Rockefeller led, inexorably, to a dramatic confrontation during the opening decade of the twentieth century that culminated in the landmark 1911 Supreme Court antitrust decision breaking up the monopolies and forever altering the landscape of modern American industry. Based on extensive research in the Tarbell and Rockefeller archives, Taking on the Trust is a vivid and dramatic history of the Progressive Era with powerful resonance for the first decades of the twenty-first century. |
Contents
| 3 | |
A Young Adult Portrait in Oil | 21 |
Dodging Bullets as the Oil Flows | 38 |
Moving Up | 64 |
Lost and Found | 84 |
Discovering the Power of the Printed Word | 101 |
Far from Home Close to Home | 126 |
McClures Magazine | 150 |
Napoleon | 168 |
Unearthing Skeletons | 177 |
Researching the Behemoth | 208 |
For the Rest of Their Lives | 259 |
Bibliographic Essay and Select Bibliography | 275 |
Acknowledgments | 289 |
Other editions - View all
Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller Steve Weinberg No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Allegheny Allegheny College American antitrust Archbold barrels became become began biography brother Chautauqua church Cleveland commented competitors corporate dard Oil decades decided despite documents Drake editor efeller Esther father felt Flagler Franklin Tarbell French Hazen helped hired hoped Ida Tarbell Ida’s independent John D.’s journalism journalists knew Knox College labor land later learned Lincoln living Madame Roland McClure McClure’s Magazine months move muckraking Napoleon nation never newspaper Ohio oil industry oil region Oil trust Oil’s Paris Pennsylvania pipeline president producers published railroad readers refiners refinery reporting Rock Rockefeller Rockefeller family Rockefeller’s Roland role Ron Chernow Roosevelt Rouseville S. S. McClure seemed served South Improvement Company Standard Oil Company story Tarbell recalled Tarbell wrote Tarbell’s tion Titusville told town visited wanted wealth William William Rockefeller woman women worried writing York City young