The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith [Hardcover]

Fred W. Brown (Author), Jeanne McDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

Church members who take Mark 16: 17-18 as a central tenet of their faith call themselves Signs Followers. Previous accounts of the Signs Followers focused on the sensational aspects of the religion: picking up poisonous snakes, drinking strychnine, speaking in tongues.

Within these churches are several families whose history in the tradition stretches back as far as the religion itself, which dates only to 1910. In The Serpent Handlers, the authors use extensive interviews with the participants to tell the stories of three of the most prominent snake-handling families the Brown family of Cocke County, Tennessee, the Elkins family of Jolo, West Virginia, and the Coots family of Middlesboro, Kentucky.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Husband-and-wife team Brown and McDonald here introduce readers to the Elkinses of West Virginia, the Browns of Tennessee and the Cootses of Kentucky. The book provides a fascinating foray into the life of these faithful snake-handling families. Especially absorbing are discussions of the miraculous healing of Gregory Coots's eye, which was damaged by gunshot when he was six years old; the poignant story of matriarch Barbara Robinson Elkins's 23-year-old daughter, Columbia, dying of a snakebite wound; and Joe Robert Elkins's testimony that he once died of a snakebite wound, ascended to the "most beautifuliest place I ever seen" and was brought back to life because God listened to the earnest pleadings of his fellow church members. Interspersed throughout Brown and McDonald's analysis are passages, drawn from interviews, in which the snake handlers speak for themselves; these sections, without question, are the richest in the book. The authors insist that their subjects are fiercely independent mountain people, but the frequent gestures in the direction of abusive coal-mining fathers and pious God-fearing mothers box the three families into familiar cliches. Readers with time for only one book on snake handling should stick to Dennis Covington's prize-winning Salvation on Sand Mountain; those less easily sated will enjoy this, but they may want to skip Brown and McDonald's commentary and go straight to the handlers themselves. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

While snake-handling Christians, called sign followers, have been the subject of periodic media attention, they have rarely been allowed to tell their own stories without editorial comment. Brown and McDonald (coauthors of Growing Up Southern) have interviewed members of three families to create a clear picture of these believers. The text derives from taped interviews, and each of the participants was allowed to read and approve the final text to eliminate misconceptions or errors, What results is a remarkably unbiased presentation that avoids sensationalism while offering a vivid glimpse into the lives and beliefs of these people. Though the authors present the historic and doctrinal background of the sect, the most important part of the book is its firsthand accounts. Neither charlatans nor lunatics, the sign followers have intense faith and absolute conviction, and their readiness to die for their beliefs is impressive. A real insight into this unusual aspect of American religion, this book is recommended for academic and public libraries.DC. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, IN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: John F. Blair Publisher (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895871912
• ISBN-13: 978-0895871916
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,731,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Signs Followers explained., June 27, 2000

By 

Larry N. White (Phelps, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book. I liked it because it neither degraded nor exalted the followers of this faith, it was more like a documentary. Even though I am not a member of this faith I found this book very enjoyable to read. Extremely informative.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is faith?, May 27, 2000

By 

Molly W. Pace (Hendersonville, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith (Hardcover)

This book takes the reader to a place that not many go. I have been fascinated by stories of faith all my life. The authors tell and let the famlies tell the stories and take us to the places that their faith takes them. This is an excellent book. I would reccomend it to all.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars faith in the truest sense of the word, April 1, 2005

By 

Ed Sherman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith (Hardcover)

If you only read one book on signs followers(serpent handlers),this should be the one.An accurate account of the beliefs of these unique people is provided in their own words, from the viewpoint of three of the most prominent families in the world of the serpent handlers. Stripped of the sensationalism prevalent in most accounts of believers of this faith, this book will present an honest look into the lives of some of the most honest, likeable people you would be proud to call your friends and neighbors.