Author Guide · Investigative Journalism
Books Written by
Between November 1902 and October 1904, McClure’s Magazine ran nineteen instalments by Ida Tarbell on how John D. Rockefeller built Standard Oil. She had grown up in the Pennsylvania oil region, where her father was one of the independent producers the company squeezed. In 1911 the US Supreme Court broke Standard Oil into 34 companies, and in 1999 a New York University jury ranked her series fifth among the century’s works of American journalism. Before that she had written a bestselling life of Napoleon and the Lincoln biographies that made her name; after it came books on tariffs, business, women and one novel. This guide covers her 13 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 13 key books · 1895–1939 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
Ida Tarbell wrote more than twenty books. The best known is The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904); the others that matter most are The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900), The Tariff in Our Times (1911) and her autobiography All in the Day’s Work (1939). Start with The History of the Standard Oil Company, the book that helped define investigative journalism; read on for her Lincoln work and the later books that complicate her reputation.
Where to Start with Ida Tarbell
If you want her defining book
→ The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) — the Standard Oil investigation, first published in McClure’s.
If you want her Lincoln biography
→ The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900) — the two volumes that made her name.
If you want her own story
→ All in the Day’s Work (1939) — her autobiography, written at 82.
If you want her only novel
→ The Rising of the Tide (1919) — a Midwestern town in the first years of the First World War.
13 Ida Tarbell Books, in Order
A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte
Her first book came out of a series she wrote for McClure’s in 1894–95, soon after returning from three years in Paris. The first edition sold more than 70,000 copies, and its success made her name at the magazine. An expanded Life of Napoleon Bonaparte followed in 1901.
Madame Roland
A life of Manon Roland, the hostess of the Girondin circle during the French Revolution, who was guillotined in 1793. Tarbell had researched the subject in Paris; Scribner’s published it once the Napoleon series had shown there was a market for her work.
The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln
Written with the assistance of J. McCan Davis and published by S. S. McClure, it covers Lincoln’s ancestry and youth using documents and reminiscences of his early friends that had not been published before. It carries 160 illustrations, including twenty portraits of Lincoln, twelve of them previously unpublished.
The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Her full two-volume biography, built on the McClure’s Lincoln series that began in the mid-1890s. Like the earlier book, it rests on interviews, letters and records she and her assistants collected from people who had known him, and it established her as a leading Lincoln writer of her generation.
The History of the Standard Oil Company
Nineteen instalments in McClure’s from November 1902 to October 1904, then two volumes from McClure, Phillips and Co. Tarbell traced how Rockefeller used railroad rebates and other secret deals to take over the oil industry, starting her research with interviews with the Standard Oil executive Henry H. Rogers. The book helped lead to the 1911 Supreme Court decision that broke the company up, and in 1999 an NYU jury ranked it fifth among the 20th century’s works of American journalism.
Her fellow pioneer of investigative journalism: Nellie Bly →
He Knew Lincoln
A short book narrated by Billy Brown, a fictional Springfield storekeeper who remembers Lincoln from his years as a travelling lawyer through the presidency, ending with the town’s grief at his assassination. She returned to the character in He Knew Lincoln, and Other Billy Brown Stories (1922).
The Tariff in Our Times
A history of American tariff-making over the previous fifty years, from the tariff as a Civil War tax onwards. Most of it first appeared in The American Magazine, which she co-owned from 1906. In 1916 she declined President Wilson’s offer to make her the first woman on the Tariff Commission.
The Business of Being a Woman
Essays arguing that a woman’s central work lay in the home and family. Published the same year as her article “Making a Man of Herself”, it put her at odds with the suffrage movement, which saw her as an ally because of her career.
New Ideals in Business
A survey of American companies that had adopted scientific management and industrial welfare schemes, and what those changes meant for workers and for profits. It marks her turn from exposing business to reporting on employers she thought were doing better.
The Rising of the Tide
Her only novel, published by Macmillan. In Sabinsport, a Midwestern river town of coal mines, an iron mill and old money, a young newspaper editor, Ralph Gardner, and his friend the Reverend Richard Ingraham try to reform the local industrialists, until the war in Europe from 1914 divides the town and redirects their campaign.
The Life of Elbert H. Gary
A biography of the chairman of U.S. Steel. Gary persuaded her that he would correct any wrongdoing her research turned up at the company, and the result was largely favourable. Critics called it a retreat from her Standard Oil work; one review was headed “The Taming of Ida Tarbell”.
The Nationalizing of Business, 1878–1898
Volume 9 of the multi-author series A History of American Life: her account of the two decades in which American business grew from local firms into national corporations and trusts, the period in which Standard Oil itself took shape.
All in the Day’s Work
Written at 82, it runs from her childhood in the oil region and her years as the only woman who matriculated in her Allegheny College class through Paris, the Napoleon and Lincoln books and the Standard Oil series. One chapter is titled “Muckraker or Historian?”, her answer to the label she disliked.
In What Order to Read Ida Tarbell
None of her books continues another, so you can read by subject. Publication order still tells a story: biographies of Napoleon, Madame Roland and Lincoln in the 1890s, the Standard Oil investigation at the peak of her career, then books on tariffs, management and women, and finally business history and memoir.
If you read only one, read The History of the Standard Oil Company; an abridged edition exists for readers daunted by two volumes. Read The Life of Elbert H. Gary after it, to see how differently she wrote about a businessman twenty years later.
A reading path
1. The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)
2. The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900)
3. The Tariff in Our Times (1911)
4. The Rising of the Tide (1919)
5. All in the Day’s Work (1939)
Everything Else Ida Tarbell Published
Beyond the 13 key books: 11 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
More books on Lincoln
6
6 books · 1909–1927
- 1909Father Abrahama short Lincoln book
- 1920In Lincoln’s Chaira short Lincoln book
- 1921Boy Scouts’ Life of Lincolna Lincoln life for young readers
- 1922He Knew Lincoln, and Other Billy Brown Storiesthe 1907 book with further Billy Brown stories
- 1924In the Footsteps of the Lincolnsthe Lincoln family’s path west, first run as a newspaper series
- 1927A Reporter for Lincolnthe story of Henry E. Wing, soldier and newspaperman
Other books
5
5 books · 1901–1939
- 1901A Life of Napoleon Bonapartethe expanded version of her 1895 book
- 1915The Ways of Womanessays on women
- 1922Peacemakers — Blessed and Otherwiseher collected articles on disarmament
- 1932Owen D. Younga biography of the General Electric chairman, subtitled A New Type of Industrial Leader
- 1939Women at Worka tour among careers open to women
The years · 1857–1944
Quick facts about Ida Tarbell
- Known for
- Ida Tarbell is known as a founder of investigative journalism, whose reporting on John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil helped bring about the company’s break-up in 1911.
- 1857
- Born in Hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania
- 1880
- Graduates from Allegheny College
- 1911
- Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil
- 1944
- Dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut
- Born
- 5 November 1857, Hatch Hollow, Amity Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania
- Education
- Allegheny College, A.B. 1880, M.A. 1883
- Worked
- McClure’s Magazine, 1894–1906, then co-owner of The American Magazine
- Died
- 6 January 1944, Bridgeport, Connecticut, aged 86
- Honours
- National Women’s Hall of Fame (2000); US postage stamp in the “Women in Journalism” set (2002)
- Legacy
- The History of the Standard Oil Company ranked fifth of the 20th century’s US journalism by an NYU jury (1999)
The red mark is 1904: The History of the Standard Oil Company, published as a book after two years in McClure’s.
How Ida Tarbell Writes: The Documents First
Tarbell worked like a historian before she worked like a reporter. Her Lincoln books advertise their sources on the title page: unpublished documents, reminiscences of his early friends, portraits gathered from private owners. She brought the same habit to Standard Oil, building the series from public records and testimony as well as interviews, beginning with the company executive Henry H. Rogers.
The tone of the Standard Oil book is measured rather than angry. A reviewer in the Economic Journal wrote that she was “so careful … in her facts, so sane in her judgements”, and much of its force comes from piling up dates, rates and contracts. She could be sharper elsewhere: the character study of Rockefeller she wrote after the series called him “money-mad” and “a hypocrite”.
She disliked the word “muckraker” that Theodore Roosevelt attached to her generation, and asked whether muckrakers should not rake up “the good earth as well as the noxious”. Her later books on management, Gary and Owen D. Young follow that idea, and readers still argue over whether they show balance or a loss of nerve.
Frequently asked questions about Ida Tarbell’s books
How many books has Ida Tarbell written?
More than twenty. Thirteen are the key books on this page, from A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1895) to All in the Day’s Work (1939); the other eleven, most of them shorter books on Lincoln, are listed under “Everything Else”.
What are Ida Tarbell’s books in order?
A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1895), Madame Roland (1896), The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln (1896), The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900), The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), He Knew Lincoln (1907), The Tariff in Our Times (1911), The Business of Being a Woman (1912), New Ideals in Business (1916), The Rising of the Tide (1919), The Life of Elbert H. Gary (1925), The Nationalizing of Business, 1878–1898 (1936) and All in the Day’s Work (1939).
Where should I start with Ida Tarbell?
With The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904). It is long, and an abridged edition exists; if you want her life first, start with her autobiography All in the Day’s Work (1939).
What is Ida Tarbell’s most famous book?
The History of the Standard Oil Company, serialised in nineteen parts in McClure’s from November 1902 to October 1904 and published in two volumes in 1904. In 1999 an NYU journalism jury ranked it fifth among the 20th century’s works of American journalism.
Did Ida Tarbell bring down Standard Oil?
Her work helped. In 1911 the US Supreme Court found Standard Oil in breach of the Sherman Antitrust Act and split it into 34 companies, a ruling widely linked to her series. Her reporting is also credited with feeding into the Hepburn Act (1906) and the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914).
Why was Ida Tarbell called a muckraker?
Theodore Roosevelt gave the name to the investigative journalists of her generation, warning that they could become a force for evil. Tarbell disliked the label; a chapter of her autobiography is titled “Muckraker or Historian?”.
Did Ida Tarbell have a personal connection to the oil industry?
Yes. She grew up in the Pennsylvania oil region, where her father, Frank Tarbell, was among the independent oil men hurt by Standard Oil’s rise. He advised her not to take on the story, fearing Rockefeller would retaliate against the magazine.
How many books did Ida Tarbell write about Abraham Lincoln?
Three of the key books on this page are about Lincoln — The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln (1896), The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1900) and He Knew Lincoln (1907) — and six more Lincoln books are listed under “Everything Else”, the last of them A Reporter for Lincoln (1927).
Why is Ida Tarbell controversial?
For two reasons. Before women won the vote in 1920 she opposed the suffrage movement, in The Business of Being a Woman (1912) and in articles such as “Making a Man of Herself”; after 1920 she wrote that women “should vote”. And her favourable Life of Elbert H. Gary (1925) led critics to accuse her of siding with big business; one review was titled “The Taming of Ida Tarbell”.
Is Ida Tarbell still alive?
No. She died of pneumonia on 6 January 1944 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, aged 86.
Footnotes
- Ida Tarbell — Wikipedia
- The History of the Standard Oil Company — Wikipedia
- Ida Tarbell — Allegheny College
- The Rockefellers: Ida Tarbell — PBS American Experience
- Tarbell, Ida (Minerva) — Encyclopedia.com
- The Rising of the Tide — Project Gutenberg
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“They had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me.”
— Ida Tarbell, on the men who ran Standard Oil, as quoted by PBS American Experience
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations