American Passage_ The History of Ellis I - Vincent J. Cannato [235]
My agent, Rafe Sagalyn, deserves a great deal of credit for helping this book along. After a chance meeting at a Washington party many years ago, Rafe took a chance on a then-unpublished author. I appreciate his patience over these past seven years and the faith he has shown in this book.
My editor, Tim Duggan, has proven to be a wise editor whose comments and edits have pushed me to make this a more readable narrative, while at the same time not losing sight that this is also a serious work of history. This is a better book for his efforts. At HarperCollins, I would also like to thank Tim’s assistant, Allison Lorentzen, for her help, and Martha Cameron for her excellent copyediting.
Donna Beath came into my life toward the end of this project. Not quite realizing what was ahead, she threw herself into the role of reader and critic, sometimes going over chapter drafts while sitting on the beach. She has put up with the ups and downs that are an inevitable part of any book project with her warm smile, good cheer, and an always ready cup of tea.
My ties to Ellis Island are not merely professional. It was from my late grandfather that I first learned of Ellis Island, which Pop passed through at least once as a young immigrant from Italy. His wife, my grandmother Antoinette, was born in New York’s Little Italy, but her parents, stepmother, and brothers passed through Castle Garden and Ellis Island.
Acknowledgments / 423
The joy of finishing this book is mixed with a great deal of sadness. Over the course of researching and writing, I have lost two of my aunts. I wish that Marion Marino and Kitty Molinari were still here to see this book.
As I write these words, it has been two months since my father passed away. In addition to the countless hours we spent over the years watching innumerable baseball and football games and boxing matches, it was my father who first encouraged my interest in history and politics. He taught me an important lesson that too few young people learn: Not only does history matter, but it is also endlessly fascinating.
My father suffered from many health problems over the years. He never thought he would see me graduate from college, but he did. He never thought he would see me get my PhD, but he did. He never thought he would see the publication of my first book, but he did. He desperately wanted to see this book published, and although he didn’t say so, I know that his nagging over the last year or so to finish it was brought on by the fact that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on.
As my father’s condition worsened this past summer, I spent a great deal of time driving back and forth to New York to be with him. In my spare time, I was finally able to finish the manuscript. But it was too late. This fall, when we knew that the time was near, I told him I was sorry that he wouldn’t see the book. “I tried,” he told me with a smile. “I tried.” And he did. He fought so hard for so many years, but in the end it was all too much.
Although his suffering has ended and he is now in a better place, that doesn’t take away the deep sadness I feel from his absence. It is hard to imagine that I won’t hear his voice again or that I won’t be able to share the reviews of this book with him. There is still so much more that I want to say to him and so much more that I want to hear from him. However, I was blessed to have him around for as long as I did, and I am grateful for everything that he did for me. I think about him every day, as I will for the rest of my life.
Thankfully, my mother, Maria, is still here to share the joy of this book’s publication. She is a “JFK immigrant” who arrived in New York by airplane after the closing of Ellis Island, coming during the quota years of the early 1960s. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for