"The Blue Tattoo is well-researched history that reads like unbelievable fiction, telling the story of Olive Oatman, the first tattooed American white woman... Mifflin weaves together Olive's story with the history of American westward expansion, the Mohave, tattooing in America, and captivity literature in the 1800s."-Elizabeth Quinn, Bust
Elizabeth Quinn Bust "In The Blue Tattoo, Margot Mifflin slices away ... Read morethe decades of mythology and puts the story in its proper historical context. What emerges is a riveting, well-researched portrait of a young woman-a survivor, but someone marked for life by the experience."-Jon Shumaker, Tucson Weekly
Jon Shumaker Tucson Weekly "The Blue Tattoo is well written and well researched; it re-opens the story of white women and men going West and Native people trying to survive these travels."-June Namias, Pacific Historical Review
June Namias Pacific Historical Review "Mifflin's treatment of Olive's sojourns [provides] an excellent teaching opportunity about America's ongoing captivation with ethnic/gender crossings."-Western American Literature Western American Literature "Although Oatman's story on its own is full of intrigue, Mifflin adeptly uses her tale as a springboard for larger issues of the time."-Feminist Review Feminist Review "Mifflin engagingly describes Oatman's ordeal and theorizes about its impact on Oatman herself as well as on popular imagination... Her book adds nuance to Oatman's story and also humanizes the Mohave who adopted her. Recommended for general readers as well as students and scholars."-Library Journal Library Journal Show Less