American Passage

In American Passage, Vincent J. Cannato masterfully illuminates the story of Ellis Island from the days when it hosted pirate hangings witnessed by thousands of New Yorkers in the nineteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century when massive migrations sparked fierce debate and hopeful new immigrants often encountered corruption, harsh conditions, and political scheming at its gates.

Cannato captures a time and a place unparalleled in American immigration and history, and articulates the dramatic and bittersweet accounts of the immigrants, officials, interpreters, and social reformers who all play an important role in Ellis Island's chronicle. He traces the politics, prejudices, and ideologies that surrounded the great immigration debate, the shift from immigration to detention of aliens during World War II and the Cold War, and the rebirth of the island as a national monument.

Long after Ellis Island ceased to be the nation's preeminent immigrant inspection station, the debates that once swirled around it are still relevant to Americans. In this sweeping, often heart-wrenching epic, Cannato reveals that its history is ultimately the story of what it means to be an American.