Ida Tarbell, a film about the pioneering turn-of-the-century journalist who exposed the monopolisation of the oil industry by the Rockefellers, is to be made by Amazon.
The articles won considerable praise, but also earned Tarbell the label of “muckraker”, something she took umbrage at.
The film focuses on Tarbell’s series of 19 articles, The History of the Standard Oil Company, which detailed how John D Rockefeller monopolised the country’s oil business.
Tarbell never met Rockefeller, who was at that time the best-known businessman in the US.