Since opening in 1892, Ellis Island has come to symbolize the waves of immigrants from a list of countries that seems endless. In this work, Bial tells the story of Ellis Island itself.

"This book explores the way government policy and popular responses to immigrant groups evolved throughout U.S. history, particularly between 1800 and 1965. The book concludes with a summary of events up to contemporary times, as immigration again becomes a hot-button issue."--Provided by publisher.

At the age of seventeen Adolfo Kaminsky had narrowly escaped deportation to Auschwitz and was living in Nazi occupied Paris, using forged documents to hide in plain sight. Due to his expert knowledge of dyes and his ability to masterfully reproduce official documents with an artistic eye, he was recruited to join the Jewish underground. He soon became the primary forger for the Resistance in Paris, working tirelessly with his network to create papers...

"In this first history of the French in New Mexico, the author chronicles the history of French-speaking people who came mainly from France, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Africa, and the Caribbean Islands; of people with French ancestry who retained some of their French culture; and of people with strong connections to France. The book traces their presence in New Mexico from the 1500s to present times. . . . They came from all walks of life, explorers,...

"Six-and-a-half-year-old Peter reads, dreams, and plays with his friends. He is a nascent explorer, artist, philosopher, mystic, and scientist...And the actual world around him is a unique one in history: a community of leftist emigrés who have found refuge in Mexico from the Nazi and fascist regimes of Europe...But the emigrés long for home...slowly, Peter begins to comprehend that his world may be turned upside down"--

Letters, diary entries, poems, monologues and diaglogues created to illustrate the stories of people whose lives were touched by Ellis Island, once the United States' largest immigration station.