‘The Last Days of Ellis Island’ probes bureaucracy and abuse of power

So many American families picture Ellis Island from the same perspective: through the stories of forebears who were among the millions of new immigrants passing through its halls.

In “The Last Days of Ellis Island,” Gaëlle Josse imagines a different viewpoint. Rather than viewing the facility through the eyes of those seeking a new life, the French poet and author hands the spyglass instead to a fictional bureaucrat within its walls. The character she creates, Commissioner John Mitchell, is