Vincent J. Cannato is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Boston where he teaches courses on twentieth-century American history, urban history, and immigration history.

He is the author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island (HarperCollins, 2009); The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and his Struggle to Save New York (Basic Books, 2001); and co-editor of Living in the Eighties (Oxford University Press, 2009). His newest book is a biography of Cardinal Francis Spellman that looks at the role of religion in Cold War America and will be published by Basic Books. Prof. Cannato has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Affairs, Politico, and Humanities Magazine. He has received two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support his research. He received his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University and his B.A. with Honors in Political Science from Williams College.