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

Podcast: EconTalk (LS 69 · TOP 0.05% what is this?)Episode: Zionism, the Melting Pot, and the Galveston Project (with Rachel Cockerell)Pub date: 2026-01-26Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationWhat 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 ambitious Galveston Project to divert Jewish refugees from overcrowded New York to Texas. The conversation with EconTalk's Russ Roberts spans the early Zionist movement's schism over the right location for a Jewish homeland, 1920s New York experimental theater, and one family scattered across London, New York, and Jerusalem.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Russ Roberts, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.