IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS FATHER

Mark Springer was just seven years old when his father died. He did not know how or where the death occurred. Thirty-four years later he learns that a man called Springer supposedly killed himself on a trail from Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico to the place called Zuni Heaven in Arizona. The trail, known as the Barefoot Trail, is a pilgrimage route of special significance to Zunis. With collaborators Maria Deschene and Justin Tso, Springer investigates. He finds that the dead man was indeed his father, that he had been researching a complicated pattern of threats to water bodies sacred to Zunis, and that he had been shot and his suicide faked. In uncovering the events leading to his father’s death, and the steps taken to cover it up afterwards, Springer learns much about his father and his work. But he also learns much about the Zuni people, and about himself.