The History of the Standard Oil Company the power of the press. As such, "The History of Standard Oil Company" harbors great significance as a standard-bearer of modern investigative journalism. In his 2008 book "Taking on the trust : the epic battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller", Steve Weinberg described "The History of the Standard Oil Company" as "arguably the greatest work of investigative journalism ever written". The History of the Standard Oil Company The History of the Standard Oil Company is a 1904 book by journalist Ida Tarbell. It is an exposé about the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon
Standard Oil wealth. By 1911, with public outcry at a climax, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in "Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States", that Standard Oil of New Jersey must be dissolved under the Sherman Antitrust Act and split into 34 companies. Two of these companies were Standard Oil of New Jersey (Jersey Standard or Esso), which eventually became Exxon, and Standard Oil of New York (Socony), which eventually became Mobil; those two companies later merged into ExxonMobil. Over the next few decades, both companies grew significantly. Jersey Standard, led by Walter C. Teagle, became the