Ida Tarbell did not simply practice journalism. She transformed it. At the turn of the twentieth century, when corporate power dominated American life and most newspapers treated industrial titans with admiration or fear, Tarbell chose a different path. With patience, original documents, and a deep respect for evidence, she spent years investigating the Standard Oil Company, then the most powerful monopoly in the nation. What she produced was not a story fueled by rumor or outrage, but a careful