American Passage

The History of Ellis Island

By: Vincent Cannato

Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan

Professor Vincent J. Cannato delivers a definitive history of America's landmark port of entry. From eyewitness accounts, Cannato weaves together a poignant testament to the hopes and fears of "huddled masses yearning to breathe free."©2009 Vincent J. Cannato (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Never before has Ellis Island been written about with such scholarly care and historical wisdom. Highly recommended!" (Douglas Brinkley, historian)
"Using a variety of primary sources, Cannato describes Ellis Island as a place and as an experience....He follows its reincarnation as a detention center for wartime aliens and as a monument and museum, which he admits may celebrate uncritically 'ethnic triumphalism' and upward mobility. Cannato writes that understaffing resulted in only perfunctory screening for mental, physical, and moral traits that might have made newcomers public charges, and he disabuses readers of the fallacy that examiners, rather than steamship officials or immigrants bent on assimilation, changed entrants' last names.....This measured book helps to place in perspective discussions - sure to matter to genealogists and those engaged in political discourse - of Ellis Island and the idea of immigration as a privilege rather than a right. Essential reading." (Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library of Congress, School Library Journal)

Meh

Being able to hear the reader’s breathing is highly irritating. Also the audible chapters are not broken up by the book’s chapters. At least one changed in the middle of a sentence. But I enjoyed the information of the book.

what a great 20 hours spent.

American Passage was a great audio book. The Narration was great as well. I would listen to the Narrator: Jonathon Hogan again he has a great voice for narration. I would have liked about half the book to be more individual and personal stories of the people who passed through Ellis Island the other half to be about immigration law the dealings of them. It did have personal stories of the people who passed Ellis Island but not enough. But all in all it was a great book

Good Info, but Audio Book Chapters Don’t Line Up w/ Book

Good Info, but Audio Book Chapters Don’t Line Up w/ Book below is a rough chart of where the chapters are
Actual Book Chapter - Audio Book Chapter
Introduction - Ch 1
Ch. 1 - Ch 2 After 3:40 mins
Ch. 2 - Ch. 3
Ch. 3 - Ch. 5
Ch 4 - Ch. 6 After 4:10 mins
Ch. 5 - ?
Ch. 6 - ?
Ch. 7 - Ch. 11
Ch. 8 - Ch. 13
Ch. 9 - Ch. 14 After 12 mins
Ch. 10 - Ch. 16 After 18:50 mins
Ch. 11 - Ch. 18 After 12:30 mins
Ch. 12 - Ch. 20 After 23 mins
Ch. 13 - ?
Ch. 14 - Ch. 25
Ch. 15 - ?
Ch. 16 - Ch. 28
Ch. 17 - ?
Ch. 18 - ?
Ch. 19 - ?
If you find the other ones copy and paste this comment with the rest :) Hope this helps

Overall interesting but a bit rambling at times

Narration is excellent. Story is overall good but author seemed to ramble rather far a field before circling back around to the central story. This is only troublesome due to the book's overall length making it daunting to complete. The epilogue is a bit preachy for me.

Hard to focus

I really thought I would enjoy this book, but found it a dry recount of immigration law. I couldn't stay focused on it & eventually gave up. I may try again another time.