American Passage: The History of Ellis Island

The Boston Public Library welcomes VINCENT CANNATO for a discussion of his new book, American Passage: The History of Ellis Island.

Ellis Island stands alongside Plymouth Rock in our nation’s founding mythology as the place where many of our ancestors first touched American soil. Ellis Island’s heyday—from 1892 to 1924—coincided with one of the greatest mass movements of individuals the world has ever seen, with some twelve million immigrants inspected at its gates.

Professor Cannato teaches history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is the author of The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York, and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.