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The Blue Tattoo
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman | Margot Mifflin
14 posts | 18 read | 63 to read
"Based on historical records, including the 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."--BOOK JACKET.
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truecrimemommy79
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Just got this book after watching Hell on Wheels on Netflix. Really enjoying it so far. I usually read mostly true crime or mysteries but her life seems so fascinating I couldn‘t resist!

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Wife
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Panpan

I was disappointed. I really wanted to know what happened to Olive Oatman during her time with a Native American tribe, but her story has been altered to fit the audience during her speaking engagements. So, who knows what really happened? Did she stay willingly? Did she marry and have children? She did have a nickname that the author says indicated she was accepted as a member of the tribe, but it wasn‘t a nice one (spoiler below). 1/5🤷🏼‍♀️s

Wife Her nickname translated to “Rotten Vagina” 😶 5y
Hooked_on_books Great nickname! 😉 This sounds like a missed opportunity for sure. 5y
Wife @Hooked_on_books 🤣🤣🤣 5y
50 likes3 comments
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Reviewsbylola
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#theneedleandthedamagedone #timbittunes

Olive Oatman was a child when her family was massacred by Native Americans and she was taken into their tribe. Fully assimilated and seemingly happy, she was ransomed back to the US almost a decade later. Olive went on to marry a banker but she became an instant celebrity and found it difficult to come back to the world she‘d once known.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa This sounds very interesting! 6y
LeahBergen Good pick for this one! 👏🏻👏🏻 6y
Cinfhen I remember when you first posted this book!! Must read!!!! Thanks for the reminder 6y
120 likes7 stack adds3 comments
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Jen2
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Pickpick

Fascinating!

92 likes6 stack adds
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Jess_Read_This
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Pickpick

3⭐️ This is more of an overview of the Olive Oatman story with many sidetracks. Her story of slavery to one Native American tribe after witnessing her family‘s murder, adoption by another for 5 years, and re-assimilation to white culture is compelling. Accounts say Olive wept when she was to be returned to white culture. Mifflin attempts to sift out truth from fiction, racist writings of the time, and the “autobiography” written by a minister.👇🏼

Jess_Read_This Oatman‘s story was sensational and her chin tattoo was a physical reminder to all of her time spent with Native Americans. She spoke well of the Mohave ppl though yet her tone changed when Rev Stratton took her in. Stratton has strong anti Native American opinions and tried to alter her story. Mifflin tries to tell the Oatman story with the facts she can find. Her interviews and research into tribe culture was fascinating. 7y
Laura317 This reminds me of “News of the World” where a child went through a similar tragedy. I remember the author saying many that were assimilated into Native American culture didn‘t want to leave it. 7y
Jess_Read_This @Laura317 Yes, Mifflin cites a few other instances of women being returned and their stories became a “captivity” genre of literature from the late 1600s through Oatman‘s time. One woman after being returned against her will starved herself to death. She became ostracized after maintaining how well she was treated and preferred to return. 7y
See All 16 Comments
Smangela This one has been on my TBR for ages! I listened to a podcast I think on “stuff you missed in history class” and the story intrigued me! Thanks for sharing your review. 7y
AmyG @Laura317 I thought News of the World was very loosly based on this woman. 7y
TEArificbooks There is a character based on her in wild west t.v. show Hell on Wheels, it is on Netflix. It is about the mobile town at the ens of the railroad line as it expanded west. 7y
Laura317 @Jess_Read_This I‘m going to add this to my tbr. @AmyG I wondered that myself! 7y
Jess_Read_This @Smangela Let me know what you think of it after you read it! 7y
Jess_Read_This @Laura317 @AmyG I‘m not familiar with News of the World. I‘m going to have to check that out! 7y
Jess_Read_This @mdm139 Really? How interesting! What is the character like on the show? 7y
Laura317 @Jess_Read_This It‘s fiction, but very good. I listened to the Audible version. If you‘ve not gotten a free Audible book yet, I think I can send it to you. 7y
Jess_Read_This @Laura317 I did get my free Audible book already. (Side note.. it wasn‘t even the complete book! I was kind of miffed at audible lol) 7y
Smangela @Jess_Read_This did you contact them? Because I think they have like a satisfaction policy? 🤷🏻‍♀️ because that‘s bogus - you should definitely get a full book! (edited) 7y
Jess_Read_This @Smangela I probably should have... I kind of just abandoned using it as it was during my free trial. I‘ve been using overdrive and Hoopla but options are limited with both of those at times. Neither had Trevor Noah‘s Born a Crime on audio and I heard it‘s awesome. Which makes me think I need to bury the hatchet with Audible 😂 7y
TEArificbooks @Jess_Read_This she was a survivor and tough as nails, she used peoples fasination with her story to get ahead and was a shrewd business woman, and loyal to her friends. She often looked out over the prairie in thought, indicated her longing to go back to the indians 7y
Jess_Read_This @mdm139 She sounds like an amazing character! I am going to have to check that show out once I get Netflix! 7y
101 likes9 stack adds16 comments
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8little_paws
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Pickpick

Olive's family was killed by indigenous Americans, and she lived with two different tribes for five years before being returned to white society. There is SO MUCH about white supremacy and male supremacy over the female body in this book. It's much more than a bio of her life. I've read that the author does get some facts wrong about Mormon culture here, but her cultural points are so interesting to me I'll still call this book a pick.

MamaBear This sounds really interesting! They based a character in Hell on Wheels on her. 7y
50 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Reviewsbylola
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#augustgrrrl #tattoo immediately made me think about Olive Oatman. Alone on the American frontier after her family was brutally murdered, Oatman was raised by the Mohaves. Years later, she was thrust back into her culture, but acclimating was not easy, not only due to the large tattoo covering the bottom half of her face.

Cinfhen This sounds GOOD #stacked 7y
Mdargusch Stacking too! 7y
Reviewsbylola I may still have it. If so, you can borrow! @Mdargusch 7y
See All 11 Comments
Mdargusch Yes! Thanks!😘 7y
Cortg This sounds really good! 7y
EvieBee Sounds awesome and my library has a copy! 7y
Soubhiville Yep, stacked. Thank you for your post! 7y
TEArificbooks There is a t.v. show on Netflix called Hell on Wheels, it is about the railroad camp town that followed the progress of the transcontinental railroad. One of the characters is based off of Oatman. 7y
emilyhaldi Never heard of her but this sounds good!! 7y
[DELETED] 3803335244 Definitely need to read! 7y
Jinjer @mdm139 that show sounds good! Jotting it down. 7y
112 likes17 stack adds11 comments
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Gina
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This lady survived quite the brutal situations during the pioneer days. A must read if you are into strong women.

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peggyriley
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When reading for work is a pleasure.

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bookishbitch
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Pickpick

This is an amazing book. I grabbed it in the airport during a trip to Arizona. About a girl who is abducted by an Indian tribe after her family is killed. Quite a sad story. She was "rescued" later by her own people. Only it didn't seem to feel like a rescue to her. Very well written and a compelling story.

Libby1 I've read articles about this woman. It's quite a story. 8y
bookishbitch @Libby1 I hadn't heard of her before I came across the book. 8y
6 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Allbookedup1
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MrBook Welcome to @Litsy ! We hope you enjoy your stay, I think you'll like it here 😎👍🏻. 8y
4 likes1 comment
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suvata
Mehso-so

The story was incredible ... The writing, not so much.

Reviewsbylola I wasn't very impressed with this book either. Too bad, since it is such a fascinating story. 8y
3 likes1 comment
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suvata
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Just found out about this fascinating story. Olive Oatman was captured by Indians during her family's westward trek during the 1850s. She eventually came to be known as "a white Indian".

shawnmooney Sounds amazing. One of my ancestors was also captured and kept for a few years in his boyhood in 18th century New York. Later he went to Upper Canada as a Loyalist. 8y
suvata How fascinating. I can't even imagine living through something like that. 8y
3 likes1 stack add2 comments