Product Description

A century ago, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, one of the world's greatest public hospitals was built. Massive and modern, the hospital's twenty-two state-of-the-art buildings were crammed onto two small islands, man-made from the rock and dirt excavated during the building of the New York subway. As America's first line of defense against immigrant-borne disease, the hospital was where the germs of the world converged.

The Ellis Island hospital was at once welcoming and foreboding—a fateful crossroad for hundreds of thousands of hopeful immigrants. Those nursed to health were allowed entry to America. Those deemed feeble of body or mind were deported.

Three short decades after it opened, the Ellis Island hospital was all but abandoned. As America after World War I began shutting its border to all but a favored few, the hospital fell into disuse and decay, its medical wards left open only to the salt air of the New York Harbor.

With many never-before-published photographs and compelling, sometimes heartbreaking stories of patients (a few of whom are still alive today) and medical staff, Forgotten Ellis Island is the first book about this extraordinary institution. It is a powerful tribute to the best and worst of America's dealings with its new citizens-to-be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264197 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061241963
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Review
"This narrative, with its haunting illustrations, belongs to all of us. I was fascinated." -- Joy Hakim, author of A History of US

Beautifully illustrated, this book offers an important history lesson and illuminates current debates surrounding public health. -- Ruth J. Abram, president, Lower East Side Tenement Museum

How rare it is to find an absolutely fascinating story that has never been told. -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals

Lorie Conway has given us the moving human stories which bring these remarkable buildings back to life. -- Peg Breen, president, New York Landmarks Conservancy

Lorie Conway's wonderful book takes a little-known story from medical history and makes it a metaphor for much that epitomizes American history . . . This narrative, with its haunting illustrations, belongs to all of us. I was fascinated. -- Joy Hakim, author of A History of US

Review
"Absolutely fascinating story that has never been told.Conway [is] armed with passion, insight and an eye for compelling detail." (Doris K. Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln )

"This narrative, with its haunting illustrations, belongs to all of us. I was fascinated." (Joy Hakim, author of A History of US )

About the Author

Lorie Conway is an independent producer and filmmaker. Her work has been recognized with the Peabody, DuPont, and Cable Ace awards. In 1993–94, she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University; she now serves as Vice President of the Nieman Foundation Advisory Board and as an Associate of the Boston Public Library. Her work on Forgotten Ellis Island was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She lives with her family in Boston, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking story
Before reading this book I knew very little about Ellis Island. I thought of Ellis Island as a port of entry and not much else. After reading this book and seeing pictures of the many people that came through Ellis Island I had a new sense of appreciation not only of those that came through but of those that made it possible. Although the book depicts some of the darker side of how we, as a nation, dealt with immigrants, the overall story was one of hope and humanity. I highly recommend this book.

Fantastic historical read
I really enjoyed this book because I did not know a whole lot about the Ellis island situation and was fascinated at the detail that this book gave about the construction of the hospitals and how patients got placed in them. I also had no idea that the immigrants had so many skin diseases but after reading about the sanitation conditions I was not surprised. It is truly amazing what our ancestors had to go through to live here.

Heart Warming Story
This was a great book to read. It never dawned on me that immigrants were medically screened before coming into the US. The pictures were great and the documentary was very informative.

The staff at the hospital were caring and willing to help when no one else was.

I plan to read more on this.