Praise for Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo
“The insights [Margot Mifflin] brings are insinuating and complex . . . Bodies of Subversion is delicious social history.”
—DWIGHT GARNER, The New York Times
“Mifflin’s thesis is rooted in subversion. She asserts that tattoos in Western culture have always been subversive for women, especially in the 19th century when they violated the assumption that ‘women should be pure, that their bodies should be concealed and controlled, and that ladies should not express their own desires.’”
—STEVEN HELLER, The Atlantic
“Bodies of Subversion . . . beautifully documented the evolution of women and tattoos from Victorian couture to mastectomy scar coverups in the nineties . . . [It was] the only book to chronicle tattooed women and women tattoo artists.”
—LEAH RODRIGUEZ, The Cut
“More than just a photographic history of this deep subculture . . . [The book] is a close study of women during a period of historic limitations and social mobility, beginning to break barriers by exploring alternative ideas of beauty and self-expression.”
—SYREETA MCFADDEN, Feministing
“In this provocative work full of intriguing female characters from tattoo history, Margot Mifflin makes a persuasive case for the tattooed woman as an emblem of female self-expression.”
—SUSAN FALUDI
“Essential reading for anyone interested in the subject.”
—ED HARDY
Praise for The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
The Booklist Reader, 1 of 150 Memoirs and Biographies of Women, by Women
Finalist for the Caroline Bancroft History Prize
Named a Best of the Best from American University Presses by the American Library Association
A Southwest Book of the Year
Named a Book of the Year by over a dozen regional publications including The Kansas City Star, Anchorage Daily News, and Idaho Statesman
Named a Book of the Year by PopMatters
A One Book Yuma community read selection for Yuma, Arizona
“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
“The Blue Tattoo is well-researched history that reads like unbelievable fiction, telling the story of Olive Oatman.”
—Bust
“An easy, flowing read, one you won’t be able to put down.”
—JON STRAUB, The Christian Science Monitor
“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.”
—CHRISTINE BOLD, The Times Literary Supplement
“Margot Mifflin has written a winner . . . The Blue Tattoo offers quite intense drama along with thorough scholarship.”
—ELMORE LEONARD
Looking for Miss America
Copyright © 2020 by Margot Mifflin
First hardcover edition: 2020
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to publish reprinted material:
“Miss America”
from THE MISS AMERICA PAGEANT
Words and Music by Bernie Wayne
Copyright © 1954, 1955 Bernie Wayne Music Co.
Copyright Renewed
All Rights Controlled and Administered by Spirit One Music
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC
ISBN: 978-1-64009-223-5
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Jacket design by Nicole CaputoBook design by Jordan Koluch
COUNTERPOINT
2560 Ninth Street, Suite 318
Berkeley, CA 94710
Printed in the United States of America
10987654321
To Lawrie Mifflin and Lize Mifflin—my sisters, my lodestars
Contents
Introduction: American Beauties