Cover of All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography

All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography

  • Free to read
  • 10 hours to read
  • 21 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography" by Ida M. Tarbell is an autobiographical account written in the late 20th century. In this work, Tarbell recounts her life experiences from her early days in a pioneering family, to her studies, and the dynamics of a woman seeking her identity in a rapidly changing society. It reflects on her evolution as a professional and a member of a transformative community, highlighting her determination amidst the societal limitations of her time. The opening of the autobiography introduces Tarbell's roots, beginning with the context of her birth in a log house in Pennsylvania, rooted in the harsh realities of a changing America. Through her vivid descriptions of her childhood and family struggles, we see her father's aspirations for prosperity in the face of adversity post the Panic of 1857. Tarbell delves into her childhood memories, revealing her early curiosity about the world around her, the dynamics within her family, and her gradual awakening to the issues of gender and education. As the narrative unfolds, it sets the stage for her aspirations to become a scientist, positioning her journey as one of personal growth, questioning societal norms, and laying the groundwork for her future achievements as a prominent journalist and biographer.

Read free now No app, no sign-up. Your place is saved automatically. Or download for your e-reader ↓
  • Journalists · United States · Biography
  • Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944

Read the opening

Chapter 1: My Start in Life

If it had not been for the Panic of 1857 and the long depression which followed it I should have been born in Taylor County, Iowa. That was what my father and mother had planned. In fact, however, I was born in a log house in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on November 5, 1857. It was the home of my pioneering maternal grandfather Walter Raleigh McCullough. No home in which I have ever lived has left me with pleasanter memories of itself. It was a Cape Cod house, a story and a half high, built of matched hewn logs, its floors of narrow fitted oak planks, its walls ceiled, its “upstairs” finished, a big fireplace in its living room. There were spreading frame outbuildings to accommodate the multiple activities of a farm which was in my time a going concern. I remember best the big cool milk room with its dozens of filled pans on the racks, its huge wooden bowl heaped with yellow butter on its way to the firkin, its baskets piled with eggs, its plump dressed poultry ready for market.

Keep reading All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography →

Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter 1: My Start in Life
  3. Chapter 2: I Decide to Be a Biologist
  4. Chapter 3: A Coeducational College of the Eighties
  5. Chapter 4: A Start and a Retreat
  6. Chapter 5: A Fresh Start — A Second Retreat
  7. Chapter 6: I Fall in Love
  8. Chapter 7: A First Book — On Nothing Certain a Year
  9. Chapter 8: The Napoleon Movement of the Nineties
  10. Chapter 9: Good-Bye to France
  11. Chapter 10: Rediscovering My Country
  12. Chapter 11: A Captain of Industry Seeks My Acquaintance
  13. Chapter 12: Muckraker or Historian?
  14. Chapter 13: Off with the Old — On with the New
  15. Chapter 14: The Golden Rule in Industry
  16. Chapter 15: A New Profession
  17. Chapter 16: Women and War
  18. Chapter 17: After the Armistice
  19. Chapter 18: Gambling with Security
  20. Chapter 19: Looking Over the Country
  21. Chapter 20: Nothing New Under the Sun

Download for your e-reader

Files are provided by Project Gutenberg. On a Kindle, the simplest route is to send the EPUB with Amazon’s Send to Kindle. Downloaded copies don’t sync with your place on Classic Book Reader.

About this edition

This free edition of All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography by Ida M. Tarbell comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #63754, released 2020-11-14. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Biographies, History - American, Journalism/Media/Writing, Parenthood & Family Relations.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

More by Ida M. Tarbell