The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman cover art

The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

Women in the West, Book 1

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The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

By: Margot Mifflin
Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
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About this listen

In 1851 Olive Oatman was a 13-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 19, 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.

©2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska; postscript copyright 2011 by The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2016 Tantor Americas Historical Women Funny Mormon Old West Wild West Mormon History

Critic Reviews

"Recommended for general readers as well as students and scholars." ( Library Journal)
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I enjoyed this, but felt I still don't know enough about Olive Oatman. there was a lot of info but most was generic about Indian actions or specific about people that knew Olive. I guess I just want more of her.

More Olive please

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I like the more feminine perspective. Brings the focus back to the female perspective of this story.

Informative

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Mifflin does an excellent job of presenting this compelling history with respect and admiration for the Mojave culture Olive was brought into, and sympathy for Olive in the dilemma she faces on her return to white culture.
Schwab’s reading is relaxing to listen to.
Overall very enjoyable and informative.

An interesting review and analysis of a complex life

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Great account and listen! The only issue relating to the performance was that in some of the latter chapters there were brief moments where the audio cut out and parts of and including sentences were missing followed by silence.

💛

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Well researched and interesting. Way too much jargon and commentary. For me very irritating narration. It's probably to do with the accent since I'm Australian.

Fascinating story. Awful narration.

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This was one i couldn't "put down" really enjoyed it .. now i will be looking for something similar

Good Book

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Racist ridiculous.. waste of my time to hear this shit. Colonization the reader disappointed me...As a Maori woman who wears my moko with pride this white woman and this book makes me angry....

Stupid bullshit

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I had hoped the book would be about Olive Oatman.
It was more about Mormonism which I found extremely boring. Or about Indian culture that was the books only saving grace.

Disappointing

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This is a really interesting story ruined by the narration. It was hard to stay engaged with the voice narrating. I should have listened to the sample first and I wouldn’t have purchased it Disappointing as I think a different narrator would have made a difference.

The narration ruined it.

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