It was not designed to welcome those who came to it. In fact, Angel Island's primary purpose was to find reasons why those immigrating to the west coast of the US should never get there. Barde (business and economic research, U. of California, Berkeley exposes the real story behind what has been erroneously called the "Ellis Island of the West," describing Angel Island's true mission and its contexts from 1910 to 1940. He finds the island featured outright bureaucratic and judicial obstruction, conveniently bad medical science (many emigrants were detained because, without proof, authorities assumed they had exotic diseases) and exclusion caused by irrational fears of powerful people. Barde carefully explains how the economics of exclusion worked and makes good use of original sources, including eyewitness reports, photos and period illustrations. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)