Ida M. Tarbell

Ida Minerva Tarbell (1857 to 1944) was a US writer, biographer, investigative journalist, and lecturer. She pioneered investigative journalism during the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Pa. at the beginning of the oil boom, she is best known for her 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company. From 1902 to 1904 it was published as a series of articles in McClure's Magazine.