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Vincent J. Cannato is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston and is the author of the book, American Passage: The History of Ellis Island.

Professor Cannato’s research interests include 20th-century political history, American urban history and urban politics, and immigration and ethnic history.

Professor Cannato was born and raised in the suburbs of New York City and received his BA with honors from Williams College and his PhD from Columbia University. He began teaching at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the fall of 2002. At UMass Boston, Professor Cannato teaches courses on New York City history, Boston history, immigration history, and twentieth-century American history.

Professor Cannato has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, and The New Republic. He is a member of the Advisory Council of Historians and Scholars for the American Institute for History Education. He has also received a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Apart from his academic career, Professor Cannato was also managing editor of The Public Interest, edited by Irving Kristol and Nathan Glazer; co-producer of the PBS documentary “The First Measured Century”; an aide to former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler; and a speechwriter at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Professional Publications & Contributions
• American Passage: The History of Ellis Island (HarperCollins, 2009).
• Living in the Eighties, co-edited with Gil Troy (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2009).
• The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York (Basic Books, 2001).