The Blessing Way (1970)

A fictional canyon near Kam Bimghi Valley in northeastern Arizona, on the Navajo Nation Reservation. In Tony Hillerman's 1970 Navajo detective novel THE BLESSING WAY, one of the characters walks down a wash in Talking Rock Canyon and thinks that the wash drains into Many Ruins Canyon, also known as Chinle Wash, near Canyon de Chelly.

During the Korean War (1950-1953), South Korean and United Nations forces were forced to retreat to Pusan Beachhead, now known as Busan, after a series of unsuccessful battles with the North Korean Army. This beachhead is located in the far southeast portion of the Korean Peninsula. The combined forces fought to retain control of the beachhead, as the loss of this area would have meant the loss of the entire Korean Peninsula. Realizing that continuing a battle at Pusan would result in an untenable number of deaths of UN peacekeeping forces, Supreme Commander of U.N. forces, General Douglas MacArthur, staged an aquatic landing behind enemy lines. The U.S-led U.N. forces invaded Inchon, located along the northwest coast of the peninsula, and regained control of Seoul. The U.N. troops then pressed south, cutting off supplies for the North Korean Army. This allowed the troops in Pusan Beachhead to resupply from the Port of Pusan and push the North Korean army north toward MacArthur's advancing forces.

The capital city of South Korea located along the Han River in the north of the country near the North Korean border. During the Korean War, the city was controlled at different times by both the North Korean military and the South Korean military. By the end of the war, Seoul was in the hands of South Korea, but a majority of the city had to be rebuilt because of the damage the war had wrought.

A geographic region encompassing both North and South Korea. The Korean Peninsula is bounded by the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait to the south, and the Sea of Japan or East Sea to the east. China makes up the northern boundary of the peninsula. Because of its proximity to China and Japan, as well as relatively easy access to the North Pacific, the Korean Peninsula is an ideal and coveted area in terms of modern strategic warfare, which is why the Korean Peninsula became such a site of political struggle, contention, and brutal violence during the Cold War (roughly 1947-1991).

The only high school in Chinle Unified School District, located in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Nation Reservation in northeastern Arizona. This is a reservation school located near Canyon de Chelly, one that serves both tribal and non-tribal students.

The name Texas originates from the Caddo word “thecas,” which means “allies or friends.” Texas became a state in 1845 and is the second largest state in the United States. First inhabited by numerous indigenous groups, Texas has a rich and complicated history comprised of distinct waves of colonization, settlement, slavery, and rebellion. Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the U.S have all ruled over the Texas territory.

The state's growth has been driven by the cattle, agricultural, and petroleum industries. Texas is often associated with frontier culture and mythology and has a strong tourism industry with popular sights including the Alamo, Fort Worth, the Space Center, Padre Island, and others. Texas is also known for its beautiful landscapes, including the rugged beauty of the Chihuahuan desert, the swampy wetlands of the Piney Woods ecosystem of East Texas, and its long coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. Texas is also recognized for its racial and ethnic diversity, cultural hotspots, and dense urbanity in cities including Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

A fictional mesa near Kam Bimghi Valley in northeastern Arizona. In Tony Hillerman's 1970 Navajo detective novel THE BLESSING WAY, a character can see from Talking Rock Mesa into the wash in Kam Bimghi Valley, suggesting that the mesa is located above the valley. Kam Bimghi Valley is located in Apache County, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is also known as Red Rock Valley because of its sandstone buttes, spires, and arches.

A north-south trending valley located in northeast Arizona on the Navajo Nation Reservation. The Chinle Valley is 65 miles long and is delineated by Chinle Wash. Located on the northwest portion of the Defiance Plateau, Canyon de Chelly National Monument comprises the heart of Chinle Valley and, some would argue, the Navajo Nation itself.

A layer of the earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere and just below the mesosphere. This layer is stratified, with the upper layers being much warmer than the lower levels. At the earth's surface, on the other hand, temperature decreases with altitude. One of the reasons that the upper reaches of the stratosphere are warmer than the lower reaches is because the stratosphere also includes the ozone layer, which is composed of a type of oxygen molecule by the same name. The ozone layer traps ultraviolet rays from the sun, causing a chemical reaction that releases small, yet incrementally cumulative, amounts of heat, thereby providing a protective thermal layer for the earth.

A large pueblo complex situated at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico that has been continually inhabited for approximately 1,000 years. The inhabitants of Taos Pueblo are believed to be descended from the Ancestral Puebloans, and it is estimated that the construction of Taos Pueblo began sometime between 1000 and 1450 CE. Taos was first contacted by Europeans when Spanish explorers encountered the pueblo and its people in 1540. Taos Pueblo would become one of the strongholds of Pueblo resistance in the struggle against Spanish colonization along the Rio Grande and was home to leaders of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, which saw Spanish settlers flee as far south as the settlement of El Paso. By the turn of the twentieth century, Taos Pueblo, its people, and its environs had become the subject of Western literary and artistic works, as the nearby town of Don Fernando de Taos became the destination for a group of American, European, and eventually Native American artists who coalesced into what became known as the Taos Soceity of Artists (1915-1927).

The Taos Pueblo was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, a designation which acknowledges the physical and cultural significance of the site and its people.