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Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land
A dusty, life-size portrait no one looked at. A family name no one could spell. And a single line in a 1941 obituary — "a household name for Jews across the Russian Empire." At 24, Rachel Cockerell started pulling that thread, and it led her from a messy house in North London to the docks of Galveston, Texas.
I talk with Rachel in her home in London about Melting Point.
As you'll hear, I'm a big fan of the book, of how it's put together, and of the way Rachel talks about it. I highly recommend both reading the book and listening to our conversation. I wish I could send a copy to everyone!
Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, US) is her first book — an experimental history told entirely through primary sources, following David Jochelman, Israel Zangwill, and the Galveston movement.
Mentioned in this episode: East West Street by Philippe Sands • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders • The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson • Orbital by Samantha Harvey • The Grocer on Elgin, Notting Hill • and, of course, an open invitation to the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.
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More from Rachel:
How I told my family's history through the words of early Zionists - The Jewish Chronicle
Zionism, the Melting Pot, and the Galveston Project (with Rachel Cockerell) - Econlib
Rachel Cockerell's 'Melting Point' revisits chapter of Jewish migration - The Washington Post
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This podcast is a production of the Henry Miller Memorial Library with support from The Arts Council for Monterey County!
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