The Pawnee

Welcome to Pawnee: More Exciting than New York, More Glamorous than Hollywood, Roughly the Same Size as Bismarck, North Dakota In Pawnee, Leslie Knope (as played by Amy Poehler on NBC's hit show Parks and Recreation) takes readers on a hilarious tour through her hometown, the Midwestern haven known as Pawnee, Indiana. The book chronicles the city's colorful citizens and hopping nightlife, and also explores some of the most hilarious events from its crazy history -- like the time the whole town was on fire, its ongoing raccoon infestation, and the cult that took over in the 1970s. Packed with laugh-out-loud-funny photographs, illustrations, and commentary by the other inhabitants of Pawnee, it's a must-read that will make you enjoy every moment of your stay in the Greatest Town in America.

No assessment of the Plains Indians can be complete without some account of the Pawnees. They ranged from Nebraska to Mexico and, when not fighting among themselves, fought with almost every other Plains tribe at one time or another. Regarded as "aliens" by many other tribes, the Pawnees were distinctively different from most of their friends and enemies. George Hyde spent more than thirty years collecting materials for his history of the Pawnees. The story is both a rewarding and a painful one. The Pawnee culture was rich in social and religious development. But the Pawnees' highly developed political and religious organization was not a source of power in war, and their permanent villages and high standard of living made them inviting and 'fixed targets for their enemies. They fought and sometimes defeated larger tribes, even the Cheyennes and Sioux, and in one important battle sent an attacking party of Cheyennes home in humiliation after seizing the Cheyennes' sacred arrows. While many Pawnee heroes died fighting off enemy attacks on Loup Fork, still more died of smallpox, of neglect at the hands of the government, and of errors in the policies of Quaker agents. In many ways The Pawnee Indians is the best synthesis Hyde ever wrote. It looks far back into tribal history, assessing Pawnee oral history against anthropological evidence and examining military patterns and cultural characteristics. Hyde tells the story of the Pawnees objectively, reinforcing it with firsthand accounts gleaned from many sources, both Indian and white.

Provides an overview of the past and present lives of the Pawnee Native Americans including their history, food and clothing, homes and family life, religion, music, and government.

Examines the history, culture, and changing fortunes of the three tribes that make up the Pawnee Indians.

The Pawnees have appeared in many historical documents, from early Spanish accounts and journals of American explorers and adventurers to fascinating accounts of daily life by Quaker agents and Presbyterian missionaries during the nineteenth century. In recent years, Pawnee activists have taken the lead in the repatriation struggle and have fought for respectful burials of their ancestors' remains. This is the first comprehensive bibliography of the Pawnees, examining a wide spectrum of books and journals on Pawnee history, culture, and ethnology. Chapters are devoted to topics such as: Pawnee archaeology and anthropology, Myths and legends, Social organization, Material culture, Music and dance, Religion, Education, Repatriation. Entries are thoroughly annotated and evaluated, making this up-to-date research tool essential for historians, ethnologists, and other Pawnee researchers.

This collection of letters written by and to the missionaries, as well as their journal entries, illustrates the life of the mission, from the everyday complications of building and maintaining a community far from urban areas, to the navigation of the bureaucratic policies of the federal government and the American Board, to the ideological differences of the Pawnees' multiple missionaries and the ensuing rift within the community. These writings provide a unique and personal portrayal of this small white community in the heart of the Pawnees' domain.

The Pawnee Mythology, originally published in 1906, preserves 148 tales of the Pawnee Indians, who farmed and hunted and lived in earth-covered lodges along the Platte River in Nebraska. The stories, collected from surviving members of four bands-Skidi, Pitahauirat, Kitkehahki, and Chaui-were generally told during intermissions of sacred ceremonies. Many were accompanied by music. George A. Dorsey recorded these Pawnee myths early in the twentieth century after the tribe's traumatic removal from their ancestral homeland to Oklahoma. He included stories of instruction concerning supernatural beings, the importance of revering such gifts as the buffalo and corn, and the results of violating nature. Hero tales, forming another group, usually centered on a poor boy who overcame all odds to benefit the tribe. Other tales invited good fortune, recognized wonderful beings like the witch women and spider women, and explained the origin of medicine powers. Coyote tales were meant to amuse while teaching ethics. George A. Dorsey (1868-1931) was a distinguished anthropologist and journalist who also wrote about the traditions of the Arapahos, Arikaras, and Osages. Douglas R. Parks is a professor of anthropology and associate director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University. He is the editor of James R. Murie's Ceremonies of the Pawnee (Nebraska 1989) and the editor and translator of Myths and Traditions of the Arikara Indians (Nebraska 1996).

Explores the history and culture of the Pawnee Indians.