Ida Minerva Tarbell (1857-1944) was an American writer, investigative journalist, biographer and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and pioneered investigative journalism. Born in Pennsylvania at the onset of the oil boom, Tarbell is best known for her 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company. The book was published as a series of articles in McClure’s Magazine from 1902 to 1904. It has been called a masterpiece of investigative journalism , by historian J. North Conway, as well as the single most influential book on business ever published in the United States by historian Daniel Yergin.