About Us
Sycuan Press was created by and is operated by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. Formed in 2006, Sycuan Press is committed to the publishing and distribution of books and printed materials that promote and educate people about the rich culture of the Kumeyaay Nation.
Current Publication
Kumeyaay: A History Textbook:
Volume I: Precontact - 1873
According to Kumeyaay oral tradition, the Creator (Mai Ha) placed the Kumeyaay People on the Earth. From that time to the present, the Kumeyaay People have remained and flourished on their lands, despite many periods of hardship. Although the Kumeyaay people have existed with their own unique indigenous culture on their traditional lands for many thousands of years, after the first Spanish incursion into Kumeyaay territory in 1769, the Kumeyaay People began interacting with several different cultures and nations of European origin.
Following the 1824 Mexican Revolution, the Kumeyaay began interacting with the Mexican people and their culture. After the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between Mexico and the United States—which ended the Mexican-American War—the Kumeyaay People began dealing socially, politically, and economically with the people of the United States and California.
Connolly’s Kumeyaay: A History Textbook provides a concise history of the Kumeyaay people. The book takes the reader from the time prior to contact with Europeans, through the period of Spanish presidios, colonization, and missionization, into the period of Mexican colonization and the vast rancheros, finally culminating with the American period from 1848 to 1873. This volume is the first of its kind: A history book about the Kumeyay Nation, written from a Kumeyaay perspective.
How to Buy
Currently, the book can be bought by check or money order.
Retail cost of book........................................ $24.00
Shipping & Handling (anywhere in the U.S.)..... $7.50
Please make your check or money order payable to “LRS”, and send to the following address:
Michael Connolly
P.O. Box 634
Alpine, CA 91903
For volume purchasers and resellers, please email Tipaay@aol.com to request a quote
About Michael Connolly
Michael Connolly is a Kumeyaay historian and member of the Campo Kumeyaay Nation. He has lived on the Campo Indian Reservation intermittently since 1960 and continuously since 1986. Michael traveled extensively while growing up as a military dependent, living in bases across the U.S. As an adult, Mr. Connolly's early career included serving as an airborne Ranger in the U.S. Army and several years in the Army Reserve as a Non-Commissioned Officer. Following his active duty military service, he worked his way to senior engineering positions in the aerospace industry. In 1990, he left the aerospace industry to begin the environmental program for the Campo Reservation. It was here that he began his involvement in Kumeyaay history, acquiring references and developing material that would eventually become the core of the Kumeyaay history program developed for classes at Kumeyaay Community College.
Mr. Connolly continues to serve the people of Campo as an Executive Council Member. He is also President and CEO of Laguna Resource Services, Inc., an environmental consulting firm that specializes in working with Indian communities.
Mr. Connolly is also the author of Sycuan: Its Land, Its People, published in 2006 and a contributing author to Equity and Sustainable Development, Reflections from the U.S.-Mexico Border, published in 2006. He has also published numerous papers on equity, economics, and Kumeyaay history.