Not the CIA, not bin Ladin -- Exxon is the toughest nut

Not the CIA, not bin Ladin -- Exxon is the toughest nut

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 12:19 AM PDT

Since its birth as Standard Oil in the 19^th century, ExxonMobil has been at once the most profitable, demonized, secretive and uncompromising corporation on the planet, a black box that muckraker Ida Tarbell famously penetrated in the early 1900s, and no one since has managed. After books on the CIA in Afghanistan and the family of Osama bin Ladin, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll describes Exxon as the most-resistent of all to inquiry. His new book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power goes on sale Tuesday. Below, Coll replies to questions from the Oil and the Glory.