About this item
Pure Land is the story of the most brutal murder in the history of the Grand Canyon and how McGivney's quest to investigate the victim'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 of the resiliency of the human spirit.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.
About the Author
Annette McGivney is an award-winning journalist and the longtime Southwest Editor for Backpacker magazine. In addition to Backpacker, her writing has appeared in Outside, Arizona Highways, and Sunset magazines. Her June 2007 Backpacker article "Freefall" about the murder of Tomomi Hanamure won a Maggie Award in 2008 from the Western Magazine Publishers Association for Best News Story. McGivney teaches journalism at Northern Arizona University and lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
You can find out more at her author website www.annettemcgivney.com
And also get info about a non-profit organization she started in conjunction with her upcoming book Pure Land at www.iampureland.com
