Events
July 28, 6-7 PM. Bancroft Finalists at Premier Reads Books Group. Featured Book: The Blue Tattoo, Denver Public Library.
June 27, 2010 1:30 PM. The Best of the Best from the University Presses (2010 American Library Association Annual Conference) Live Broadcast on C-Span’s BookTV:
June 3, Nyack Library Book Club Discussion of The Blue Tattoo, Nyack, New York.
March 19, 10 a.m. Wellton Library Book Club Discussion: The Blue Tattoo. Yuma, Az.
March 19, Fifth grade visit, The East Village Community School (PS 315), NY, New York.
March 5, 5:30 p.m. and March 7, 11 a.m. Interview: “New Horizons with Bob Kustra” (NPR affiliate KBSX 91.5, Boise).
February 20, Southwest Literature Book Club discussion: The Blue Tattoo. Sharlot Hall Museum (Prescott, AZ) at 10 a.m.
January 25, “Morning Edition” with Lou Gumm on these NPR affiliates in Western Arizona: 3PM on FM 88.9 KAWC in Yuma; 4PM on 90.7 FM in the Kingman area; 91.3 FM in the Flagstaff area; 90.1 FM in Prescott; 89.5 FM in the Verde Valley area.
Arizona Book Tour, January 2010:
January 14: The Heard Museum, Scottsdale, 11:30 a.m.
January 14: The Arizona Historical Society Museum, Tempe, 7 p.m.
January 15: The Heard Museum, Phoenix, 2 p.m.
January 16: The Arizona History Museum, Tucson, 10 a.m.
Sep. 24: Reading/Discussion, Lehman College/CUNY, 4-5 pm.
August 20, 12:40 p.m.: The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC AM 820 and FM 93.9). Listen here.
July 30, The Susquehanna Art Museum will feature The Blue Tattoo in its Artful Book Discussion series. 301 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pa., 6:30-8:00.
June 16, Signing/Reading, Bookcourt (163 Court Street Cobble Hill, Brooklyn) 7 pm. See the video here.
May 8, (honoree) Annual Celebration of CUNY Women Scholars and Scholarship in Women’s Studies and Gender, 12;30-2:30 CUNY Graduate Center, Martin E. Segal Theater.
May 1, Signing: Pickwick Books, Nyack, NY (8 South Broadway) 6:30-8:00.
Awards:
The Best of the Best from the University Presses (2010 American Library Association Annual Conference).
Selected as a 2009 Book of the Year by The Kansas City Star, The Anchorage Daily News, The Idaho Statesman, The Sacramento Bee, The (Tacoma WA) News Tribune, The State (SC), The Olympian (WA), The Victoria Advocate (TX), The (PA) Centre Daily Times, The Enquirer Herald (SC), The Modesto Bee (CA), The Tri-City Herald (WA) The Lake Wylie (SC) Pilot, The News and Observer (NC), and Pop Matters.
A 2009 Must Have Holiday Book, Needles and Sins.
A 2009 Southwest Book of the Year
Reviews
Lake Oswego Review, July 8, 2010.
Overland Journal, Spring 2010. “We recommend The Blue Tattoo to students, specialists and general readers of the history of the Southwest.”
Pacific Historical Review, May 2010 (review by June Namias). “Margot Mifflin is a great storyteller…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.” Pacific Historical Review
Ralph Magazine, mid-spring 2010. “It seems the author–and now your reviewer–are in love with the Mohaves.”
Women’s Review of Books, Jan-Feb. 2010.
Lansing State Journal, January 12, 2010.
Western American Literature, Dec. 3, 2009. “Mifflin’s treatment of Olive’s sojourns [provides] an excellent teaching opportunity about America’s ongoing captivation with ethnic/gender crossings…” Western American Lit pdf
Doubleday Book Club, November, 2009. “Mifflin catches the poignancy of this story that manages to combine the conquest of the West, life among its victims and the national myths that justified it.”
Feminist Review, November 7, 2009. “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.”
Powell’s Books Review a Day, Oct. 19 2009.
Rain Taxi, Fall 2009, [An] admirable and enjoyable book [that] offers analysis of both the reality and the mythology of Oatman’s life…”
Internet Review of Books, October 15, 2009. “The Blue Tattoo is a wonderful peek at an era and a literary genre by a first-class researcher. ”
Tucson Weekly, September 13, 2009. “…a riveting, well-researched portrait of a girl kidnapped by Native Americans.”
Irish Times.com, August 13, 2009. “One can read this work of non-fiction as if it were a sensational novel – with progressive feminist implications.”
New West, August 10, 2009. “As Margot Mifflin demonstrates in her absorbing book, The Blue Tattoo, the truth about Olive Oatman is more complicated than the many fictions about her.”
Tattoo History, August 10, 2009. “The book’s already received rave reviews, and for good reason….a fascinating dose of both tattoo and American history.”
The Kansas City Star, August 9, 2009.
The Times Literary Supplement, July 10, 2009. “An important and engrossing book, which reveals as much about the appetites and formulas of emerging mass culture as it does about tribal cultures in nineteenth-century America.” Times Literary Supplement
The Stereopticon, July 2009.
Bismarck Tribune, June 16, 2009. “…a thoughtful presentation of a legendary woman in western history.”
Foreword, May/June 2009. “…Mifflin skillfully demythologizes the case of Olive Oatman.”
Ehistory at Ohio State University, June 2009. “Mifflin’s dynamic pacing and energetic writing are a brilliant match for a story filled with dynamic personalities and their transitions.”
Bust June/July 2009. “….well researched history that reads like unbelievable fiction.”
Library Journal, April 1, 2009. “…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.”
MonstersandCritics.com, May 12, 2009. “This is a revealing read as it delves into the social mores and prejudice of the time.”
Press:
“Pima County Public Library Panel Selects the Top Reads of 2009″ Arizona Daily Star, December 20, 2009.
“Tattoed Girl Stepped Into Yuma History” The Yuma Sun, September 9, 2009.
The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC, August 20, 2009. Listen here.
“The Blue Tattoo: The Story of Olive Oatman,” I Tunes U, podcast posted June 26, 2009.
“Professor Margot Mifflin Writes Biography of 19th Century Pioneer Olive Oatman,” CUNY Newswire, April 1, 2009.
Bookshelf, Lehman Today, spring 2009.
“South Nyack Author Tells Tale of Unconventional Heroine in New Book,” The Rockland Journal News, March 29, 2009.
On Blogs
BookTeaCatDog, May 31, 2010.
Woooo, April 16, 2010. “Mifflin engagingly describes Oatman’s ordeal and theorizes about its impact on Oatman herself as well as on popular imagination.”
Schuyler Books and Music: Recommended Read, March 30 2010.
Red Slipper Diary, March 10, 2010.
Under the Covers and Reading, Feb. 20, 2010. “…a fabulously written book with more discussion topics than you can cover in a single book club meeting…a page turner and one that our group unanimously LOVED.”
My Aunt’s Bookshelf, Feb. 5, 2010. “So well written that you will find it hard to put the book down.”
Julie’s Bookshelf, Feb. 12, 2010.
Magic Lantern Show, Feb 4, 2010. “…one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking books I’ve read in a long time.”
Westervin, Jan. 8, 2010. “…one of my favorite reads of ‘09.”
Bibliolotry (Sacramento News and Review), Dec. 21, 2009.
Journey to the Past, Dec. 4, 2009.
Powell’s Books Blog, Oct. 20, 2009.
Detroit to Brooklyn, Sep. 28, 2009.
Rosemary MacCabe, July 27, 2009.
Reading in Appalachia: Library Loot,July 15, 2009.
Master the Art of Reading, July 12, 2009.
Otherspoon, June 21, 2009.
Needles and Sins, June 15, 2009.
Grumpy Dan, June 9, 2009.