Ragtime

E. L. Doctorow

1975

Most of the immigrants came from Italy and Eastern Europe. They were taken in launches to Ellis Island. There, in a curiously ornate human warehouse of red brick and gray stone, they were tagged, given showers and arranged on benches in waiting pens. They were immediately sensitive to the enormous power of the immigration officials. These officials…

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Creator Bio

E. L. Doctorow

1931–2015

A novelist and playwright whose works were translated into more than thirty languages, E. L. Doctorow was born in New York City. He attended Kenyon College and studied drama at Columbia University before serving in the U.S. military. He was the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters and English at New York University. Among Doctorow’s numerous awards were the National Humanities Medal, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the National Book Award.

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