Synopses & Reviews
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 Oatmanand#8217;s friends and relatives, The Blue Tattoo is the first book to examine her life from her childhood in Illinoisand#8212;including the massacre, her captivity, and her return to white societyand#8212;to her later years as a wealthy bankerand#8217;s wife in Texas.
Oatmanand#8217;s story has since become legend, inspiring artworks, fiction, film, radio plays, and even an episode of Death Valley Days starring Ronald Reagan. Its themes, from the perils of religious utopianism to the permeable border between civilization and savagery, are deeply rooted in the American psyche. Oatmanand#8217;s blue tattoo was a cultural symbol that evoked both the imprint of her Mohave past and the lingering scars of westward expansion. It also served as a reminder of her deepest secret, fully explored here for the first time: she never wanted to go home.
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Review
“An intelligent, humane, and noble book that rescues from obscurity an intelligent, humane, and noble woman. It stands as a testament to the power of reading, writing, compassion, and extraordinary courage.”—David Bezmozgis, author of The Free World Meredith Wood Bahuriak - PLOP! Review
Review
“With this searching, nuanced biography, Julija Šukys introduces the English-speaking world to a genuine heroine of the Holocaust, while at the same time raising vital questions about the role of trauma, poverty, and ill health on womens literary production.”—Susan Olding, author of Pathologies: A Life in Essays David Bezmozgis
Review
“This is an important new take on the legacy of the Holocaust. Eloquent and elegantly written, it reads like a Sebald text but with a voice profoundly its own.”—Laura Levitt, professor of Religion, Jewish Studies, and Gender at Temple University Susan Olding
Review
"Epistolophilia is not a typical biography, and and#352;imaitand#279; was not a typical World War II hero. For readers looking for an unconventional account of the World War II and post-war eras, as well as those interested in women's life writing, Epistolophilia is a nuanced and compelling work."and#8212;ForeWord Reviews
Review
"Sukys draws liberally from thousands of pages of correspondence and numerous diaries to create a portrait of a deeply thoughtful woman trying to make sense of history and her own life by putting it all to paper. Also of Lithuanian descent, Sukys's own meditations on the power of letters and writing make this a powerful testament to the confluence of history and individual lives and passions."and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
"Sukys is to be commended for providing us with this testament and story of a little known hero, who might otherwise have been overlooked."—Abe Novick, Baltimore Jewish Times Abe Novick
Review
"A startling paradox that while Simaite died at 76 before completing her memoirs, Sukys is able to capture Simaite's story while successfully writing an unexpected memoir of her own."—Meredith Wood Bahuriak, PLOP! Review Baltimore Jewish Times
Review
"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."and#8212;Elizabeth Quinn, Bust
Review
"In The Blue Tattoo, Margot Mifflin slices away the decades of mythology and puts the story in its proper historical context. What emerges is a riveting, well-researched portrait of a young womanand#8212;a survivor, but someone marked for life by the experience."and#8212;Jon Shumaker, Tucson Weekly
Review
"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."and#8212;June Namias, Pacific Historical Review
Review
and#8220;Mifflinand#8217;s treatment of Oliveand#8217;s sojourns [provides] an excellent teaching opportunity about Americaand#8217;s ongoing captivation with ethnic/gender crossings.and#8221;and#8212;Western American Literatureand#160;and#160;
Review
and#8220;Although Oatmanand#8217;s story on its own is full of intrigue, Mifflin adeptly uses her tale as a springboard for larger issues of the time.and#8221;and#8212;Feminist Review
Review
and#8220;Mifflin engagingly describes Oatmanand#8217;s ordeal and theorizes about its impact on Oatman herself as well as on popular imaginationand#8230;. Her book adds nuance to Oatmanand#8217;s story and also humanizes the Mohave who adopted her.and#160;Recommended for general readers as well as students and scholars.and#8221;and#8212;Library Journal
Synopsis
The librarian walks the streets of her beloved Paris. An old lady with a limp and an accent, she is invisible to most. Certainly no one recognizes her as the warrior and revolutionary she was, when again and again she slipped into the Jewish ghetto of German-occupied Vilnius to carry food, clothes, medicine, money, and counterfeit documents to its prisoners. Often she left with letters to deliver, manuscripts to hide, and even sedated children swathed in sacks. In 1944 she was captured by the Gestapo, tortured for twelve days, and deported to Dachau.
Through Epistolophilia, Julija and#352;ukys follows the letters and journalsand#8212;the and#8220;life-writingand#8221;and#8212;of this woman, Ona and#352;imaitand#279; (1894and#8211;1970). A treasurer of words, and#352;imaitand#279; carefully collected, preserved, and archived the written record of her life, including thousands of letters, scores of diaries, articles, and press clippings. Journeying through these words, and#352;ukys negotiates with the ghost of and#352;imaitand#279;, beckoning back to life this quiet and worldly heroineand#8212;a giant of Holocaust history (one of Yad Vashemand#8217;s honored and#8220;Righteous Among the Nationsand#8221;) and yet so little known. The result is at once a mediated self-portrait and a measured perspective on a remarkable life. It reveals the meaning of life-writing, how women write their lives publicly and privately, and how their words attach themand#8212;and usand#8212;to life.
About the Author
Margot Mifflin is an author and journalist who writes about women, art, and contemporary culture. The author of Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, she has written for many publications, including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, the Believer, and Salon.com. Mifflin is an assistant professor in the English Department of Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and directs the Arts and Culture program at CUNYand#8217;s Graduate School of Journalism, where she also teaches.and#160;