Vincent J. Cannato is an associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
His areas of expertise are New York City history, American immigration history, and post-1945 U.S.
political history.

Prof. Cannato is the author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island (forthcoming,
HarperCollins); The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and his Struggle to Save New York (Basic Books,
2001); and co-editor of The 1980s: Gilded Age or Golden Age? (forthcoming, Oxford University
Press). He has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Weekly
Standard and received a number of grants and awards including a National Endowment for the
Humanities Fellowship. Prof. Cannato is also an associate editor of The Encyclopedia of New York
City, Second Edition and a member of the editorial board of The New York Journal of American
History.

Professor Cannato is deeply involved in history education and has done extensive work with
Teaching American History grants and given workshops throughout the country. He has also
served as a principal investigator on a number of grants with school districts in the Boston area.

In addition to his academic work, Prof. Cannato has worked as a political speechwriter, a co-
producer for the PBS documentary "The First Measured Century," and managing editor of The
Public Interest.

He received his PhD in American history from Columbia University and his BA in political science
from Williams College.