Rating: 
Summary: A different universe in the Appalachian hills
Review: Having grown up in a highly religious family with memories of church services full of fiery preaching, church politics, and hypocrisy, I've always been intrigued about the extreme faith some people have. It doesn't get much more extreme than the small circle of Southern churches that handle venomous snakes to get closer to God. The subject matter could come across in some ways comical, like those muscular "Power Team" christians who pray for strength and break 2x4s in football arenas. But the author presents a unique subject in a unique way--he grew up in the Appalachian hills and in the course of the story, even finds out his relatives have played a part in the snake handling history. He even buys into the experience given his spiritual needs of the moment and describes first-hand the fear and loss of fear through faith when handling the snakes in moments of religious ecstasy. This is a thoroughly fascinating book like few others. In a lot of ways, this book is similar to another fantastic book, "Violent Faith" by Jon Krakauer who wrote about the Mormon Fundamentalists and their bloody history and disfunction. Only in this book, Covington becomes the center of the story, not just the reporter. I can understand how this fine book was considered for the National Book Award.
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Summary: An open-minded look at the rural South
Review: I am from rural Appalachia, a few miles from some of the sites in Covington's book. It's rare to see us "rednecks" and "hicks" presented with an open mind. Southern culture is quite complex--in equal parts chaotic, convoluted, and compelling. Covington captures that well. He also captures the curiously all-consuming intensity of an ecstatic religion--it never fails to bemuse me that some people won't tell you the time of day without a mention of Jesus. Snake handling is a fascinating subject, and Covington not only paints a vivid picture, he also elucidates the inchoate desire of all Southerners to recapture our past and at the same time move beyond it in the eyes of the nation. What he doesn't handle well is journalistic distance from the subject. When he gets deeply involved in the services, his analytical voice is abandoned in favor of simply recording events. I wish he had worked harder at maintaining his objectivity. But don't let that stop you from reading an intriguing book.
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Summary: Fun book.
Review: I handle snakes and attend church but unlike the the people whoare the subject of this fascinating book I don't happen to do both at the same time.Whether or not you share a fascination with snakes, spirituality, and southern culture (as I happen to) you will be immediately gripped by the human earthiness and blue collar mysticism described in this book. This book will suck you in.
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Summary: Made me want to shout!
Review: I loved this book and I have reread it many times. In fact, reading this book back in 1995 caused me to want to go to church and get right with God.
The best thing about this book is the attitude of respect and compassion that Dennis Covington gives the handlers. This book could have been written differently, as a scathing indictment of these people, their culture and religious beliefs, but Covington maintains his respect to the end. I would guess that he could write about any people and find good in them.
I have a cousin who lived next door to the Punkin Brown family in Parrotville, TN. She grew up with his kids and knows one of his sons. Once Malinda Brown and then Punkin both died of snakebite, the children were the center of a custody battle between the grandparents. This could be fuel for a hatred of this type of religious practice, but like Covington, even in the face of tragedy, I cannot help but to still love them.
The state of Tennessee and other states have enacted laws to ban the practice, but it is not widely enforced which is a good thing, since we do have religious freedom in this country.
Rating: 
Summary: Wasted my time.
Review: I read this book for a class. Except I couldn't accept this book as critical or objective. I found this to be a claptrap story, that was basically done for propaganda purposes. I honestly don't know why it is assigned at a university level. If I wanted more faith in anything, I'd think about it, not read about it.
The book is sensational because the author is a journalist and knows how to make it fancy. I would recommen to the reader that if he wants to read it, he should go to the library, not the bookstore.
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Summary: Compelling human interest story, but litte theology
Review: I read this book in a single sitting after my girlfriend 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 of these people. Unfortunately, it does little to answer the question of "why" or explore the theological basis of the doctrine.
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Summary: FASCINATING SUBJECT...WITHOUT MUCH BITE
Review: I was excited about reading this book because it's about a big, dramatic subject: a unique culture of people taking their lives into their hands along with their faith. Because the book lets you see inside this compelling phenomenon, I give it three stars. HOW the story is treated is another thing altogether, and I can't believe this book was a finalist for the National Book Award! Around the middle of the book, Covington starts throwing out very far-reaching theories. For instance, watching a snake handler grimace and writhe in church, he says, "The expression seems to have more to do with Eros than with God, in the same way that sex often seems to have more to do with death than with pleasure." (Huh?) And the parallel between the mountain people "handling" their snakes as a symbol of "handling" their problems is very shaky. The author is equally sketchy about exploring the people who are sharing the story with him. In the final pages of the book, for example, we're told that his wife, (a peripheral figure who watches his spiritual conversion without comment), is a deacon in their church. Since she's allowing their small daughters to accompany their father to snake handling services (!) don't you think they'd have a talk about God somewhere along the line? What the book does well is to describe the thrilling, hallucinogenic ecstasy of handling the snakes. (It's also interesting, and sad, that the snakes on the circuit tend to die within a year; they're not meant to be handled and flung around like that.) And there are occasional sharp insights, as when Covington observes that the practice of snake handling gives the economically poor people doing it a rush of power. ("The more faith you extend, the more power is released. It's an inexhaustible, eternally renewable resource. It's the only power some of these people have.") Aside from occasionally bright bits such as this, however, the subject is not very well served, and the ending especially is anticlimactic. I'm glad I read this book, and yet it certainly doesn't live up to its eerie promise.
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Summary: Snakes? Amazingly enticing!!
Review: It's hard to recommend this book to people because they hear what it's about and almost universally think that they don't want to read about it - religious fanatics handling snakes, drinking poison, plotting to kill their wives - sounds like loads of fun. But it is! It really is. Dennis Covington treats this subject with a great deal of humility and respect. He makes the characters come alive and really shows you some of what they may be thinking or feeling. Everyone that I have convinced to read this has enjoyed it tremendously.
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Summary: Snake Handling - Biblical Fundamentalism Gone Awry
Review: Probably the biggest problem any reader of Dennis Covington's Salvation on Sand Mountain would encounter, is where to file the paperback when read - in the religion or herpetology (providing you have one) section of your home library. I had heard of snake handling serving as part of worship services before, but had no idea it is so prevalent a practice in the modern day South. Not a biblical literalist (e.g. I don't think Jonah spent time in the belly of a big fish), I find it facinating people risk their lives every Sunday because Mark 16:18 says "They shall take up serpents" Probably the most facinating part of this book is how the author actually became involved with snake handling, himself. He began his research for the book as an exercise in investigative journalism, but soon found himself becoming immersed and almost hypnotised by the snake handling cults. How he explained his growing affinity for salvation thru snake handling to his family is a classic. I suppose we all share a common fear, macabre interest, or outright revulsion of large poisonous snakes. Picking up two or three of them at one time with your bare hands, while in a state of ecstasy at a Sunday service, begs for an explanation. Deaths due to bites are not uncommon and medical help is shunned. Author Covington takes you on a journey into these believers' thinking and faith. Hold on for a wild ride !
Rating:
Summary: Striking
Review: Salvation on Sand Mountain really hit me. In many ways, Dennis Covington and I are similar. Our ancestors come from the same place, and in some ways, Covington's search for home paralleled my own. He really gives these people that the outside world looks on as strange and idiotic some humanity. This complete examination of a different, and authentic, world really intrigued me and allowed me to see a vision of life from the snake-handlers' lives. That said, it is Covington's personal spiritual search that makes this book compelling. Covington feels lost, and in an attempt to put his life on track, he's looking for a place to start. The simplicity and passion of the Snake Handlers attracts him, and he sets out to see what this is. He really encounters the Snake Handling way of life, and in the process, he begins to learn a little bit about himself. Covington writes, "Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there." That's probably the salient message of the book. Even if we find where we come from, we have to move on to create our own home, our own place in the world. Covington's journey goes toward and away from the snake handlers on sand mountain, and by encountering them, God helps him to find his own way.
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