Throughout The Early Years, Christenberry's work is presented as part of an evolutionary series of developments that began with Christenberry's immersion in the Abstract Expressionist philosophies and techniques taught at the University of Alabama during his years as a student there (1954-1959) and continued through his abandonment of painting on canvas (1964) and his inclusion of signs and found objects in the three-dimensional "constructions" he created in Memphis (1964-1968). These constructions, marked by the artist's sense of dynamic composition and gestural brushwork, and reflecting his awareness of the "combines" of Robert Rauschenberg and the developing Pop Art sensibility, have never been examined prior to this book. As J. Richard Gruber convincingly demonstrates, Christenberry's work evolved in response both to the most advanced art movements of the times and to the changing social and cultural landscape around him.