"To make the text more accessible to contemporary readers, this edit ion has been abridged from its original version, the appendices and ill ustrations excised, and certain spellings modernized. A free digitized version of the complete text can be found at Internet Archive (www.arch ive.org)." -- Publisher's note, page [ix].

"Between 1902 and 1904, McClure's Magazine ran [Tarbell's] serialize d history of the Standard Oil Company in nineteen parts, which were col lected into two volumes published in 1904" -- Page [4] of cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

The Birth of an Industry -- The Rise of the Standard Oil Company -- The Oil War of 1872 -- "An Unholy Alliance" -- Laying the Foundations o f a Trust -- Strengthening the Foundations -- The Crisis of 1878 -- The Compromise of 1880 -- The Fight for the Seaboard Pipe-Line -- Cutting to Kill -- The War on the Rebate -- The Buffalo Case -- The Standard Oi l Company and Politics -- The breaking up of the Trust -- A modern war for independence -- The price of oil -- The legitimate greatness of the Standard Oil Company -- Conclusion.

Journalist Ida Tarbell wrote serialized stories from 1902 to 1904 ex posing the Standard Oil Company monopoly and the role of owner John D. Rockefeller in creating commercialized American ideals and materialisti c values. Tarbell describes Rockefeller's business practices, personal characteristics, and physical appearance. This "muckraking" form of jou rnalism led to regulation of Standard Oil.