May 15, 2014
A female journalist takes on the behemoth Standard Oil and its powerful founder, John D. Rockefeller, changing both reporting and business regulation.In the period just before and after the Civil War, the nascent petroleum industry grew unchecked by regulations or ethical business practices, and women had few options outside of marriage and family. These two factors come together in the life of Ida M. Tarbell. Daughter of an early oil entrepreneur, Ida and her parents decided she should receive a solid education. Rejecting the traditional roles available to women, she embarked on a career as a journalist and writer. Eventually she made her name as a fearless investigative reporter, exposing the corrupt practices of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. In a startling departure, Caldecott winner McCully offers a thorough prose exploration of the life of a complex woman who defied the conventions of her time while coping with her own family difficulties, successfully contextualizing her work against its historical backdrop. The shift from picture-book form to long-form nonfiction is not without its bumps; the detailed narrative moves slowly as it describes project after journalistic project, and the archival images McCully includes do not sufficiently break up the text.Though Tarbell rejected the term, this will appeal primarily to those interested in the history of muckraking journalism. (source notes, bibliography, photo credits, index not seen) (Nonfiction. 12-16)
COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from May 1, 2014
Gr 7 Up-McCully expertly brings to life the story of a unique and determined woman in this well-written and thoroughly researched biography, filled with numerous and pertinent photographs. She places Tarbell's story into historical context, detailing how the country was just discovering the hidden wealth of oil and all the opportunities that came with it and how certain individuals were making shrewd business deals to guarantee large incomes. All of the corruption and secret machinations affected many citizens. Tarbell went where no one had gone before, becoming an investigative reporter for a top magazine. Though women were little respected at the time, she dove right into a man's world, exposing the somewhat shady side of John D. Rockefeller, head of the powerful Standard Oil Trust. As Tarbell's articles stirred public emotions, she grew more and more famous for her outspokenness and perseverance. Readers will not only get a feel for Tarbell, but they'll also get a sense of the changing world she inhabited.-Carol Hirsche, Provo City Library, UT
Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from June 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Born before the Civil War, Ida M. Tarbell had the intelligence, drive, and personality to carve out a career for herself in a man's world, writing hard-hitting articles for McClure's Magazine and becoming a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism. Having grown up in a Pennsylvania community that rose with the oil boom and suffered as a result of price fixing and other underhanded tactics, Tarbell understood the social costs of unsavory business practices. After a thorough investigation, she wrote a series of articles on the rise of Standard Oil and their devious methods of stifling competition. Her writing swayed public opinion and prompted public officials to act. In her first book for young adults, Caldecott medalist McCully shows a fine ability to organize material and present it in a lively, readable way. She deals head-on with the thorny topic of Tarbell's opposition to women's suffrage, perhaps one reason this intriguing, historically significant woman has been overlooked by other biographers for young people. McCully also places information about Tarbell within the broader context of her upbringing as well as the social norms and political forces that informed her choices. Illustrated with many period photos, this informative title brings Tarbell and her times into sharper focus for readers today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2015
McCully creates a multilayered biography of Tarbell, crusading journalist of the early twentieth century. The author examines the era's social context for women as well as the culture and importance of print media, particularly the influence of magazines such as McClure's, where Ida made her mark. Just as her subject did, McCully allows readers to draw their own conclusions throughout. Source notes. Bib., ind.
(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2014
McCully, best known for her picture books, here creates a multilayered cradle-to-grave biography of Ida M. Tarbell, the crusading journalist of the early twentieth century. Readers meet young Ida growing up in Pennsylvania oil country, a tarnished backwater of the Gilded Age. A curious child, Tarbell strove to become a botanist, and eventually a teacher, one of the few jobs open to women. Her teaching career was short-lived, but the lessons of scientific inquiry led to a dogged determination to get to the bottom of an issue, which would serve her well when she began her writing career. McCully re-creates the era's social context for women as well as the culture and importance of print media, particularly the influence of magazines such as McClure's, where Ida made her mark. Although known as a muckraker, Tarbell dismissed that label and insisted that she was a historian; the attention given here to her research and major works, particularly her expose of John D. Rockefeller, substantiate that idea. Famously, Ida Tarbell did not believe in women's suffrage, and McCully neither condemns nor excuses her for that position. Instead, she carefully details Tarbell's thinking on the issue and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. Here the work of the biographer mirrors the work of her subject. Source notes, bibliography, photo credits, and an index are included. betty carter
(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)