Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington
BUY IT NEW
- Limited Time Offer! Everyone receives the Member Price on books.
See Details - This item is currently out of stock.
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Paperback - Reprint)
- Pub. Date: March 1996
- 272pp
| More Formats | |
|---|---|
| Paperback - reissue | $11.96 |
Buy it Used: 28 copies from $1.99 See All Available
Customers who bought this also bought
Product Details
- Pub. Date: March 1996
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
- Format: Paperback, 272pp
- ISBN-13: 9780140254587
- ISBN: 0140254587
- Edition Description: Reprint
Synopsis
The fifteenth anniversary edition of National Book Award finalist Dennis Covington’s compelling journey into the world of holiness snake handling
Annotation
The people of Southern Appalachia are hill people of Scottish-Irish descent--religious mystics who cast out demons, drink strychnine, and handle rattlesnakes. When the author, himself Scottish-Irish, uncovers records of snake-handling Covingtons, he decides to take up serpents himself. The result is Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers and Garrison Keillor all rolled into one quirky, unforgettable read.
Publishers Weekly
After Covington, a writing instructor at the University of Alabama, novelist (Lizard) and freelance journalist, covered the trial of a preacher convicted of attempting to murder his wife with rattlesnakes, he was invited to attend a snake-handling service in Scottsville, Ala. He found the service exhilarating and unsettling; he felt a kinship with the people, for he was only two generations removed from the hill country of Appalachia. Of Scottish-Irish descent, the handlers are religious mystics who believe in demons, drink strychnine and drape rattlesnakes around their bodies. Covington attended other services with Brother Carl Porter; he eventually handled a huge rattlesnake, and recalls that at the time, he felt absolutely no fear. This is a captivating glimpse of an exotic religious sect. (Jan.)
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Dennis Covington is the award-winning author of several books of fiction and nonfiction, including Lizard and Lasso the Moon. He teaches creative writing at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
Customer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 3Reviews: 3
- See All Reviews
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachiaby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
December 10, 2003: This is a good read, but as much or more about the author than the snake handlers. The snake handlers themselves do not think he treated them quite fairly, especially reguarding Punkin Brown. Finally, one gets the impression from the book and the publishers statements that all appalachians are snake handlers and that just is not so.
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachiaby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
November 21, 2003: I read this book in a single sitting after my fianc?' purchased it and told me about it. During my childhood, my mother took me to several Holiness churches through southeastern Ohio. Although Holiness churches (at least the ones I attended) tend to be more conservative than the snake handlers described in the book, they are roots of the mainstream Pentecostal movement and many of fringe doctrines, such as snake-handling. As a result of my upbringing, I have a close personal knowledge of the beliefs and doctrines of these people, and must say that I think Dennis captured with uncanny accuracy the underlying principles that drive these religious movements. The book begins as Dennis reports on the trial of a snake-handling preacher accused of attempted murder, but only briefly covers the trial. Dennis begins an investigation into the lives and peculiar spirituality of those who handle snakes, and soon finds himself immersed in that culture, attending religious services. As he strives to discover what motivates the worship habits of these sects, he becomes caught up in the 'fever' and becomes a snake handler himself, albeit for a brief period. The turning point comes when Dennis openly challenges his church brethren about their subservient view of the roles and responsibilities of the female gender. The snake-handling Christians expel him from their midst, and Dennis returns to his Methodist church in Alabama. The book relays the viewpoint and experiences of a contemporary mainstream Christian as he tries to understand the fringe doctrine of snake handling. I must admit that, after finishing the book, I was disappointed that he failed to explain the doctrine, and offer any substantial justification for it. The book quickly transforms into a diary of his personal experiences in the church, and offers little in the way of a journalistic expose'. Perhaps that it is the point; Dennis may have been trying to convey that that emotionalism and peer pressure drives this doctrine, without much substantive basis for doctrine. While devout Holiness people may disagree, I tend to think, based upon my own personal observation, that very few individuals caught in these extreme doctrines truly understand the basis of their own beliefs. A portion of the book is devoted to the genealogy of the snake handling movement, and traces it back to early immigration patterns in which newcomers to early America were driven from the Eastern US cities into Appalachia. There, they spent generations secluded from the evolution of modern society, and developed conservative religious beliefs that have remained basically unchanged since the early 1800s. As the post-Industrial era began to saturate even the mountains of the eastern and southern United States in the early 1900s, small groups of believers 'rebelled' and evolved their already-conservative beliefs into near fanaticism. Some readers of the book have balked at this explanation, and felt that it unfairly characterizes these believers as backwoods radicals, suspicious of the secular world and purposefully shy of it. To an outsider, this type of viewpoint must seem improbable and unlikely, but it is accurate and typical of these doctrines. All in all, it is a compelling read that offers unique insight into the lives of a handful of snake handlers, whose attitudes and beliefs are typical. It shows us how singularly driven these individuals are, and offers a glimpse into the attitudes and motivations...
Loading...