The History of the Standard Oil Com

This muckraking classic, which eventually led to effective regulation of the Standard Oil Company, was the inaugural work for crusading journalists whose mission was to expose corruption in politics and the abuses of big business during the early twentieth century. The history combined descriptions of John D. Rockefeller's business practices with his personal characteristics, creating an image of a cunning and ruthless person--a picture that not even decades of Rockefeller philanthropy were able to dispel. This "briefer version" of the two-volume original edition (published in 1904) makes the book more accessible to students and teachers of American business history and to anyone interested in the days of unregulated commerce.