Ida tarbell definition quizlet live create

When Ida Tarbell first published her serial History of the Standard Oil Company, she did not think anyone would read it.¹ Even today, many believe that Tarbell was little more than the defensive daughter of an independent oilman.

To these critics, Tarbell is nothing more than an angry moralist, not at all a progressive. But in fact, Tarbell both characterized and expanded the progressive movement through her clash with John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil.

Although Tarbell herself held a nuanced view of Standard Oil’s legitimacy, she incited a hatred of the corporation’s practices in the general American public that eventually tested new legislation’s ability to determine whether a trust had violated the law.

The eventual conflict between Tarbell and Standard Oil was the long-term result of the intersection of chance circumstances. Arbitrary geological processes had place