What was Ida Tarbell famous work?
The History of the Standard Oil Company
In her most famous work, The History of the Standard Oil Company (which oil historian Daniel Yergin called the “most important business book ever written”), Miss Tarbell revealed, after years of painstaking research, the illegal means used by John D. Rockefeller to monopolize the early oil industry.
What is the historical context and significance of muckraker Ida Tarbell writes The History of the Standard Oil Company?
One result largely attributable to Tarbell’s work was a Supreme Court decision in 1911 that found Standard Oil in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Court found that Standard was an illegal monopoly and ordered it broken into 34 separate companies.
Why was Ida Tarbell bad?
Tarbell was wrong on both counts. Standard Oil’s business practices were more ruthless than she had ever thought possible, and in her telling they became a page-turning tale of coercion, deception, and hubris. The key ingredient for Tarbell’s success came from her unprecedented access to primary source material.
How did Ida Tarbell contribute to the progressive movement?
Ida Tarbell helped pioneer investigative journalism when she wrote a series of magazine articles about John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Trust. She and other jour- nalists, who were called “muckrakers,” aided Progressive Movement reform efforts.
Who were Ida Tarbell’s friends?
In 1906 Tarbell joined with Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker and William A. White to establish the radical American Magazine.
What did Ida Tarbell’s writings expose?
Ida Tarbell was an American journalist born on November 5, 1857, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The McClure’s magazine journalist was an investigative reporting pioneer; Tarbell exposed unfair practices of the Standard Oil Company, leading to a U.S. Supreme Court decision to break its monopoly.
What was the focus of Ida Tarbell’s article that was published in McClure’s magazine in the early 1900s?
She was the only woman in her graduating class at Allegheny College in 1880. The McClure’s magazine journalist was an investigative reporting pioneer; Tarbell exposed unfair practices of the Standard Oil Company, leading to a U.S. Supreme Court decision to break its monopoly.
What did Ida Tarbell’s The History of Standard Oil 1904 expose?
After her education and to accumulate writing experience, Tarbell began working at McClure’s Magazine, where she wrote several successful series on historical figures. Eventually, Tarbell uncovered a crucial piece of evidence proving that Standard Oil was rigging railroad prices and preying on its competition.
Did Ida Tarbell like Rockefeller?
Still a teenager, Ida Tarbell was deeply impressed by Rockefeller’s machinations. “There was born in me a hatred of privilege, privilege of any sort,” she later wrote. There, Tarbell wrote a long and well-received series on Napoleon Bonaparte, which led to an immensely popular 20-part series on Abraham Lincoln.
How did the novelist Upton Sinclair contribute to the reform movement?
Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. Before the turn of the 20th century, a major reform movement had emerged in the United States.
What did The History of the Standard Oil Company exposed?
Her best-known work, The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), exposed the questionable business practices of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, which had been formed when Rockefeller combined all his corporations in an attempt to reduce competition and control prices in the oil industry.
Was Ida Tarbell a muckraker?
She was among a group of so-called muckrakers who helped establish the field of investigative journalism. Tarbell was educated at Allegheny College (Meadville, Pennsylvania) and taught briefly before becoming an editor for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (1883–91).
Who was Ida Tarbell and why is she famous?
Muckraking journalism emerged at the end of the 19th century largely in response to the excesses of the Gilded Age, and Ida Tarbell was one of the most famous of the muckrakers. Born in 1857 in a log cabin in Hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania, Tarbell’s first dream was to be a scientist.
What did Harriet Tarbell do for a living?
One of her biographers, Kathleen Brady, wrote of Tarbell that “the sight of her work in type was like magic which dispelled forever dreams of botany.” Keenly aware of social problems since her days as a teacher, Tarbell wrote about inequality and injustice and encouraged colleagues at the Chautauquan to do likewise. In 1890, Tarbell moved to Paris.
How did Tarbell expose the Standard Oil Company?
Tarbell Exposes The Standard Oil Company. One result largely attributable to Tarbell’s work was a Supreme Court decision in 1911 that found Standard Oil in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Court found that Standard was an illegal monopoly and ordered it broken into 34 separate companies.
What was the cause of death of Mary Tarbell?
She took ill with pneumonia in December 1943 and died in Bridgeport Hospital on January 6, 1944, at age 86. The History of the Standard Oil Company remains a classic of investigative reporting, and Tarbell’s legacy as a someone who took seriously the credo that journalists should “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted” lives on.
