Zionism, the Melting Pot, and the Galveston Project (with Rachel Cockerell)

What happens when a writer discovers her “boring” great-grandfather was actually a household name across the Russian Empire who helped 10,000 Jews escape to Texas? Rachel Cockerell‘s The Melting Point traces this forgotten history through an audacious technique: she removed herself entirely, letting only primary sources–newspaper articles, diaries, letters–speak across time. Her journey uncovers great-grandfather David Jochelmann’s partnership with Israel Zangwill, the “Jewish Dickens” and their...