In Pictures: The Spectator’s book party with Rachel Cockerell

Strong cocktails and sparkling conversation were the order of the evening at The Spectator’s first event in New York City at Palo Gallery. Author Rachel Cockerell spoke about her fascinating book, Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land. Cockerell’s radical debut tells the story of the Galveston Plan: a forgotten episode in US history in which ten thousand Jews fleeing the persecution and brutality of the Russian Empire set sail for Galveston, Texas.

It was standing room only for Speccie subscribers for the conversation between New York editor Orson Fry and Cockerell. Afterwards, the author mingled with guests and answered their questions. The evening nicely lubricated with white wine, beer and sake, graciously provided by the event sponsor Soto Sake.

The party spilled out into a balmy summer’s eve on the cobblestoned sidewalks of Bond Street. It was your typical, colorful crowd – including Ted Lasso’s Keeley Hazell, Charly Sturm, Aurora Messel, Boni Reiffers, Jasper and Octavia Greig, Freya Jones, Karen Lehrman Bloch, Thomas Straker, Danny Moynihan, Robert Novogratz, Palo Gallery owner Paul Henkel, Breaker Media’s Lachlan Cartwright, Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin, Chadwick Moore, Airmail’s Harrison Vail, Spectator editors Ben Clerkin and Kate Andrews and publisher Zack Christenson.