"An important book for anyone interested in outsider art, folk art, Southern studies, and American religion." - STARRED REVIEW Library Journal "Entertaining and insightful ... a thoroughly researched and illuminating book."
John Foster Raw Vision "How [Girardot] came to write a book about Finster and Finster's art after a decade and a half of visiting him- and an additional ... Read moredecade of visiting his garden-is a story in itself, and Girardot's book is as much about that narrative as it is about the mythico-religious structure behind Finster's immense quantity of artwork. In many ways, this book is sui generis." Art Papers "Gives the flavor of the particular religious environment from which Finster emerged and how he transformed it through his art... Of importance, and contrary to typical readings of the work, the only fundamentalism that Girardot recognizes in Finster is the artist's own fundamental strangeness. But the core of that strangeness was core to his liberating message." The Outsider "Densely written but supremely readable. Much of its density comes from the author's often hilarious and often riotously poetic language, which echoes the ecstatic excesses of Paradise Garden itself... His inquiry, which both complicates and elucidates the Finster myth, demonstrates why Finster's lifework matters." Folk Art Messenger Show Less