Pure land : a true story of three lives, three cultures, and the search for heaven on earth

Prologue -- Part 1 -- 1. Hiking in -- 2. Earth and sky -- 3. Nation of the willows -- Part II -- 4. Nature traveler -- 5. Dad -- 6. Child of Supai -- 7. Child of Conroe -- 8. Michael -- Part III -- 9. Mountains and Canyons -- 10. Blues -- 11. Panic -- 12. Route 66 -- 13. Randy -- 14. Desperation -- Part IV -- 15. Yokohama -- 16. The land of Wa -- 17. Havasu Falls -- 18. Flashback -- Part V -- 19. Search for the killer -- 20. Confession -- 21. Punishment -- 22. Return to Supai -- Part VI -- 23. Collapse -- 24. Elizabeth -- 25. Origins of violence -- Part VII -- 26. Momma -- 27. A tribe of women -- 28. Transcendence -- Epilogue: Where they are now -- Acknowledgments.;"Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese citizen who loved exploring the rugged wilderness of the American West, was killed on her birthday May 8, 2006. She was stabbed 29 times as she hiked to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Her killer was an 18-year old Havasupai youth named Randy Redtail Wescogame who had a history of robbing tourists and was addicted to meth. It was the most brutal murder ever recorded in Grand Canyon's history."--Amazon.com. Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese citizen who loved exploring the wilderness of the American West, was killed on her birthday May 8, 2006. She was stabbed 29 times as she hiked to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Her killer was a distressed 18-year-old Havasupai youth. Pure Land is the story of this tragedy. But it is also the story of how McGivneys quest to understand Hanamures life and death wound up guiding the author through her own life-threatening crisis. On this journey stretching from the southern tip of Japan to the bottom of Grand Canyon, and into the ugliest aspects of human behavior, Pure Land offers proof of the healing power of nature and the resiliency of the human spirit. "There is such tragic irony here. The very things that Japanese tourist Tomomi Hanamure is so deeply passionate about--the wild, stark, beautiful American West and Native American culture--are what leads to her violent death. Around this single horrific event Annette McGivney has masterfully woven three separate, highly personal narratives." -- S. C. Gwynne, Author of Empire of the Summer Moon, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize "McGivney intuitively grounds her narrative while exploring humanity's roots of culture and origins of character, like the light of the sun awakening each intricate layer of earth in the deepest of canyons. She is a storyteller of the highest caliber, with a style reminiscent of Jon Krakauer's journalistic skill and unmistakable purpose." -- Carine McCandless, author of The Wild Truth, the New York Times bestselling follow-up to Into the Wild "Annette McGivney has gathered three disparate narratives and braided them into a bewitching tapestry of darkness and light, pain and atonement, along with the unexpected gifts that can sometimes accompany profoundly devastating loss." -- Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese citizen who loved exploring the rugged wilderness of the American West, was killed on her birthday May 8, 2006. She was stabbed 29 times as she hiked to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Her killer was a distressed 18-year old Havasupai youth. Pure Land is the story of this tragedy. But it is also the story of how McGivney's quest to understand Hanamure's life and death wound up guiding the author through her own life-threatening crisis. On this journey stretching from the southern tip of Japan to the bottom of Grand Canyon, and into the ugliest aspects of human behavior, Pure Land offers proof of the healing power of nature and the resiliency of the human spirit. -- Back cover