More Than A Muckraker: Ida Tarbell's Lifetime Journalism

“In his fine introduction, Kochersberger provides us with a brief biographical sketch and enlightening overview of Tarbell’s unusual career. The magazine articles, books excerpts, essays, and radio scripts he selected include a lively assortment of profiles of such notables as Lincoln and Empress Josephine, business-related writing including discussions of mine safety and workers’ rights, and pieces on topics such as flying, work, Prohibition (she was opposed), and old age (Tarbell remained active into her eighties).”—Booklist
A pioneer of investigative journalism, Ida Tarbell (1857-1944) brought the rigor of scientific inquiry and a penchant for accuracy to her reporting on such topics as governmental corruption and the excesses of big business. Although she is best known for her journalistic battles with John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil and the fight for antitrust legislation, she was also a gifted biographer, a social commentator and speaker, and a women’s rights advocate—of sorts—during a time when most women did not work (or write) outside the home.
In this book, Robert C. Kochersberger has collected the best of Tarbell’s scattered articles, book chapters, speeches, and previously unpublished pieces into a single volume so that her writings may be reexamined in the light of recent scholarship in the fields of journalism, women’s and gender studies, and American history.
Robert C. Kochersberger, Jr., teaches journalism in the Department of English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.