{"product_id":"signed-copy-amalgam-an-immigrant-his-labor-union-and-his-american-family-in-brooklyn","title":"Signed Copy: Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn","description":"\u003cem\u003eAmalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn\u003c\/em\u003e, written and illustrated by Frances Jetter. \u003cem\u003eExclusive signed copies by the author available while supplies last.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a uniquely told immigrant story, visual artist Frances Jetter connects her own life to her ancestors' and their interweaving ties to the 20th century labor movement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe narrative thread unspools with Abram, a Polish Jew who immigrates to America for economic opportunity and — much like his namesake — takes on a new name, 'Abe'. He is a passionate arbitrator and advocate in his union but an unyielding patriarchal tyrant at home. Throughout, readers uncover the convictions and contradictions that make up the tapestry of his life and so many others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmalgam\u003c\/em\u003e is populated by impressionistic figures, rendered with piercing faces staring down the reader, as if out of an old photograph. Some pages are mini epics depicting the struggle of workers, others are haunting vignettes of abandoned dolls and forgotten friends. It's also a love letter to Jetter's mother, Rose, who hovers in the artist's mind like a ghost — forever impressed upon the stairs, at once ephemeral and pervasive, like Rose's lost paper doll. One's life is not only one's own, but hinges on every other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwelve years in the making, \u003cem\u003eAmalgam\u003c\/em\u003e, true to its name, takes a multimedia approach to its story. Presented as a meditation on memory and legacy, a kind of summoning occurs out of the loving patchwork of linocuts, keyholes, and hinges — and the presence of the dead is felt once again. There is a profound, understated moral power in Jetter's remembrance of loved ones, etching their essences in the same linoleum material that made up the floors of her childhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardcover, 160 pages. Measures 11.2\" × 14.3\" Published by Fantagraphics Underground Press (FU Press), a new micro imprint publishing books and print projects appealing to a smaller, more rarefied readership. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginal illustrations by Frances Jetter had been featured in the Norman Rockwell Museum 2020 exhibition \u003cem\u003eFinding Home: Four Artists’ Journeys \u003c\/em\u003eand in the current exhibition \u003cspan style=\"color: #33cccc;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nrm.org\/2025\/05\/american-stories-revolution-to-rockwell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #33cccc;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e American Stories: Revolution to Rockwell \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e on view June 6, 2026 through October 26, 2026.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ciframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JtsIAqtU_nY?si=P837ze-Uorl2fhJ2\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Fantagraphics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63707634663793,"sku":"BOHI20015","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0873\/3710\/7773\/files\/afe4641e-5529-4d20-ad14-ce397c08d920.jpg?v=1781281100","url":"https:\/\/store.nrm.org\/products\/signed-copy-amalgam-an-immigrant-his-labor-union-and-his-american-family-in-brooklyn","provider":"Norman Rockwell Museum Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}