The History of the Standard Oil Company (book)

"The History of the Standard Oil Company" by Ida M. Tarbell is a detailed investigation into how John D. Rockefeller built his vast oil empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The book exposes the company's aggressive strategies to monopolize the oil industry, such as unfair agreements and crushing competitors. Tarbell’s work played a key role in public awareness and reform movements, leading to antitrust laws that broke up Standard Oil in 1911. It remains a significant account of industrial growth, corporate power, and the need for regulation in American economic history.