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    The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
    The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
    The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

    Written by Margot Mifflin

    Narrated by Kaipo Schwab

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In 1851 Olive Oatman was a thirteen-year-old pioneer traveling west toward Zion, with her Mormon family. Within a decade, she was a white Indian with a chin tattoo, caught between cultures. The Blue Tattoo tells the harrowing story of this forgotten heroine of frontier America. Orphaned when her family was brutally killed by Yavapai Indians, Oatman lived as a slave to her captors for a year before being traded to the Mohave, who tattooed her face and raised her as their own. She was fully assimilated and perfectly happy when, at nineteen, she was ransomed back to white society. She became an instant celebrity, but the price of fame was high and the pain of her ruptured childhood lasted a lifetime.

    Based on historical records, including letters and diaries of Oatman's friends and relatives, The Blue Tattoo is the first book to examine her life, from her childhood in Illinois-including the massacre, her captivity, and her return to white society-to her later years as a wealthy banker's wife in Texas.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 29, 2016
    ISBN9781515974901
    The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
    Author

    Margot Mifflin

    The author of Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo and The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, MARGOT MIFFLIN has written for publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker. Find out more at margotmifflin.com.

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    Reviews for The Blue Tattoo

    3.5/5

    109 ratings19 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Not much about Olive. Disappointing. Author has a definite slant.
    • 2/5
      Briefly, this is a bait and switch. Olive Oatmen is addressed, however, primarily used to advance political feelings or propaganda. I don't have regard for the author using Oatmen and the heinous crimes committed against her in a self-serving way. I listened to the audiobook, and that is the only reason I finished. If I had the physical book, I would have DNFd this.

    • 3/5
      The story of Olive Oatman’s life is fascinating and the author provides excellent background including the cultural details of the Yavapai and Mojaves, as well as the prevailing attitudes of the so-called “civilized” whites.
      The book is coloured with a feminist lens, analyzing the influence of Olive’s father, brother, the reverend who co-wrote her book, and later her husband.
      One big disappointment however: though the book is focused on a woman, researched and written by a woman, and spends a good deal of time analyzing women’s rights in the 1800s, it is narrated by a man.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting story. I liked that you can tell the book isn’t sensationalized like a lot of stories that are about the same thing. I loved the details about the tribe and found it more interesting than the story. But it was a feel good ending. Glad that she was able to have a good life after returning back to society. The narrator was also great to listen to. Very good voice for this genre
    • 5/5
      I find it so interesting to see the differences of tribes by the accounts of people of non native decent who lived among them.
    • 4/5
      An interesting book. Previously I was unaware that "captivity stories" were a whole genre during this period of history but this book is more than a typical captivity story as it acknowledges that genre and some of the reasons it existed in the first place. I like that this gives more time to examining more of Olive's experience than the previous more sensationalized books about her story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Interesting look at one persons life and attitudes about race and gender during the 1800s.
    • 4/5
      Olive Oatman and her sister were taken by a Native American tribe while her family was heading west in the early 1850s. Olive lived among them for 5 years before being returned to white society. The story is interesting, and I learned a good deal about some of the Native American tribes in the southwest at that time. The information on Olive, however, is sketchy at times only because there isn't a lot of documentation. There are unanswered questions that I had that will remain unanswered because of the passage of time. The other historical information that was shared was dry at times and struck me as being an attempt to lengthen the book. I did get lost in some of the names. It was an interesting enough read about something I knew nothing about.
    • 5/5
      I agree with Elmore Leonard, this book was a winner.

      The main point behind this particular book (because there have been many about the Oatman massacre) was to try and dispel the sensationalistic story that surrounded this (poor) woman once she was returned back to the "whites" from the Mohaves. When she left, her "adoptive mother" Topeka, cried. There is speculation, that similar to Cynthia Parker, Olive Oatman (OO) didn't want to come back to white society. There is good evidence that OO had assimilated, and was, to the best of her ability in her circumstances, happy. One way Mifflin sets out to prove this is the tattoo on OO's chin. This is done for members of the tribe (Mohave) and for no other reason. When getting the tattoo, one has to not move the mouth so as to not smudge or mar the markings for a certain period and one has to lie very still, etc. I.e. it takes cooperation, and OO's tattoo was perfect signaling she had been willing.

      Also, while the nickname wasn't very flattering, OO was given one. Another example of OO's probable happiness, was one particular opportunity to escape that came about and OO did nothing. Mifflin did a great job dissecting the various facts around this event in which OO didn't show herself. This approach taken by Mifflin is one I really enjoyed, scrubbing facts against rumors.

      Another of my favorite things in the story was the carefully extracted facts from articles, diaries, letters, even some of OO's own writings. Then, Mifflin would expertly weigh in, and reason whether various accounts or statements were true by using Yavapais (the tribe that murdered her family) and Mohave customs to determine what might have been true or embellished.

      Bottom line, the most factual account of what probably occurred in 1851 and the following years, and a truly fascinating read.
    • 5/5
      If you remember the tv series Hell on Wheels, then you will remember the character of the woman with the tattoo on her face. She was fictionalized in the series, but she was a real person. Her name was Olive Oatman and this is her story. I loved it and I think you will too.
    • 3/5
      The well told story of Olive Oatman, who lived among the Mohave Indians for several years in the mid 19th Century. The Blue Tattoo is not only the story of Olive's will to adapt and thrive among the Mohave; but also the exploitation story of the people who "rescued" her from those Indians. The story becomes somewhat dry and repetitive as it moves through Olive's life after her return to civilization, but is overall an interesting read. I would've liked to know more about her marriage and family life, but possibly there just wasn't much information to draw from. All in all, an enjoyable and well writen work.
    • 4/5
      I didn't know anything about Olive Oatman and I'm very glad this book was my first exposure. Well researched and documented, it gave both the modern insight as well as the historical perspective. My favorite part was the ending, a letter in Olive's own hand.
    • 3/5
      The story starts out well and caught my interest until Olive rejoins the Whites. From this point the author seems to get bogged down.Olive and her brother are captured by Native Americans as children and sold into slavery. Olive is bought as a 'replacement' for a Native American that was killed by the whites in the area. She assimilates into the Native American life and is soon tattooed, showing that they accept her as one of them. She manages to to escape and returns to life in the white world, but part of her remains with her captors.
    • 4/5
      Meticulously researched, this book sheds new light on the story of Olive Oatman and the Mohave tribe. There were parts of the book that I skimmed through, but some parts really captured my attention including the discussion of how Olive's story was appropriated (mainly by men) into popular culture and literature of the day, as well as a discussion of tattooing practices in early America.
    • 3/5
      Women's history author, journalist, and professor, Margot Mifflin, expands her research into this easily listenable tract about the life of Olive Oatman. In 1851, thirteen year old Olive was traveling west with her family when they were set upon by Yavapai Indians, she escaped the slaughter only to be taken hostage. Later traded to the friendly Mohaves she was raised as one of their own and even had her face tattooed as a symbol of belonging. She spent several happy years living among them until she was forced to return to white society and re-assimilate. Permanently branded, she was seen as an oddity and her childhood trauma and facial tattoo caused her celebrity status. Meticulously researched this true tale of wild west lore will captivate readers. For such a brutally fascinating glimpse into history, it reads remarkably light and may even interest teen readers and listeners as well. Wonderfully narrated by the talented voice actor, Kaipo Schwab, this story flows fast and compels listeners to keep listening. A must read for fans of wild west lore, women's history, and tattooing. - Erin Cataldi, Johnson Co. Public Library, Franklin, IN
    • 4/5
      Margot Mifflin has done a good job of researching the story of Olive Oatman. Ms. Oatman's family was killed by Indians in the 1850s, and the teenaged Olive and her younger sister were kidnapped. They were later traded to another tribe where they were accepted and adopted into a family. Ms. Mifflin has tried to get to the truth of the story by using documents Olive herself wrote, and early interviews -- before biographers with their own agenda took control.What struck me about the biography was that the truth is so hard to uncover. It seems that Olive was reasonably happy with her adopted family, but white society could not accept this. Her story was written by a man who portrayed her time with the Mohave as miserable. Similarly, when Olive began lecturing, she could not show much affinity for the "savages" who held her captive. Doing so would have led to being shunned by whites.It is also a sign of the past that Olive's story was appropriated -- and largely told by -- men. Even her husband edited her obituary to ensure no mention was made of her time with the Indians. Olive was a brave person who did the best she could in whatever circumstances she found herself in. It is unfortunate that she was unable -- because of society's views of women and of Indians -- to serve as a bridge between two cultures. As as result, her real self remained in the shadows of both worlds.
    • 4/5
      Olive Oatman and her family were travelling west - first to find religious Utopia, then gold. The family's adventure came to an abrupt end when their wagon was attacked by a small group of Indians. The only survivors were Olive, here sister Mary Ann, and brother Lorenzo. There are wide and varied tales of what happened to Olive over the next 5 years. Mifflin attempts to find the truth, relying on Oatman's own words, public records and other material. What is left is a story of a girl with ties to two worlds, but no firm place in either. An engaging read, The Blue Tattoo brings to light not just the life of a single girl, but also life in the 'old west.'I really enjoyed this book. It read as though the author was conversationally sharing her research on the topic (in a very organized way).
    • 5/5
      What happens when a young Mormon girl is abducted into slavery by a band of Yavapai Indians then sold to another tribe where she is adopted as daughter into a Mohave family? The Blue Tattoo is a beautifully crafted history of Olive Oatman, a real life 1850's teen who lived a story that she would eventually tell on the lecture circuit following her ransom back to "civilized" society. Oatman carried physical marks of her time with the Mohave's, chin tattoos that the Indians used for identification purposes - so in the afterlife they could find loved ones. She was the first known tattooed white woman in US history and as such an oddity for the rest of her life. A fascinating story with glimpses of a time and place that few non - native Americans ever experienced. So well written that you will find it hard to put the book down.
    • 5/5
      Well written, readable and scholarly. Margot Mifflin deconstructs each inaccuracy of the Olive Oatman story and gives the reader well-reasoned facts. It's distressing to read how the real life story of Oatman, who appreciated the Mohave way of life, was hijacked by her ghost-writer and presented as an anti-Indian screed.