123 used & new from $0.69

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle Don�t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: serpent box, common water snakes, green binder, Brother Carl, Holy Ghost, Sand Mountain (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

23 new from $4.68 100 used from $0.69

Formats		Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Hardcover Available from these sellers. Published December 31, 1994	Hardcover, December 31, 1994	--	$17.94	$0.81
Paperback $10.76 In Stock. Published August 10, 2009	Paperback, August 10, 2009	$10.76	$8.60	$8.72
Paperback Available from these sellers. Published March 1, 1996	Paperback, March 1, 1996	--	$4.68	$0.69
	See # more paperbacks
	Show fewer paperbacks

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Serpent Handlers

by Fred W. Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars (8) $11.96

Eight Theories of Religion

by Daniel L. Pals

4.8 out of 5 stars (5) $40.45

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America

by Randall Herbert Balmer

4.6 out of 5 stars (7) $13.59

Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn Updated and Expanded Edition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

by Karen McCarthy Brown

4.6 out of 5 stars (18) $21.21

Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls

by Stephanie Wellen Levine

4.2 out of 5 stars (16) $17.00

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Salvation on Sand Mountain is a story of snake handling and strychnine drinking, of faith healing and speaking in tongues. It is also the story of one man's search for his roots--and, in the end, of his spiritual renewal. Writer Dennis Covington came to this ecstatic form of Christianity as a reporter covering a sensational murder case; Glen Summerford, pastor of the Church of Jesus with Signs Following, had been accused of attempting to kill his wife with rattlesnakes. There, in a courtroom filled with journalists and gawking spectators, Covington felt the pull of a spirituality that was to dominate his life for the next several years. Attending Summerford's church out of curiosity, he soon forged close friendships with some of the worshippers, began attending snake-handling services throughout the South, and eventually took up snakes himself.

With subject matter this lurid, Salvation on Sand Mountain could have been a Southern-fried curiosity and little more. Covington goes far deeper. Tracing the snake handlers' roots in regional history, in the deep spiritual alienation of mountain people from the secular modern world they have so recently joined, Covington is more than just sympathetic to the snake handlers; in a profound way, he considers himself one of them. His reasoning is sometimes flawed--when he attempts to find snake handlers in his own family's past, for instance, the result is belabored and unconvincing--but there's no doubt that Covington's heart is in the right place. He's also not without his own brand of sly gallows humor, as in this conversation with the elderly Gracie McAllister: "She'd swore she'd never handle rattlesnakes in July again. She'd been bit the previous two Julys. 'I decided I'd just handle fire and drink strychnine that night,' she said. Good idea, I thought. It always pays to be on the safe side."

Covington eventually breaks with the snake handlers, but comes away from the experience a changed man. "Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there," he writes. An American Book Award winner and finalist for the National Book Award, Salvation on Sand Mountain is a nuanced, compassionate portrait of an unforgettable spiritual journey. --Mary Park

From 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.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140254587
ISBN-13: 978-0140254587
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #133,805 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Dennis Covington Page

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
serpent box, common water snakes, green binder, snake handling, timber rattler, snake handlers, brush arbor

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Brother Carl, Holy Ghost, Sand Mountain, Glenn Summerford, Carl Porter, Brother Charles, Brother Bill, Punkin Brown, Aunt Daisy, Thank God, East Lake, Bill Pelfrey, Gene Sherbert, Darlene Summerford, Dewey Chafin, West Virginia, Tennessee River, Uncle Ully, Anna Marie, Aunt Annie, Bobbie Sue Thompson, Sister Bobbie Sue, Billy Summerford, Brother Dennis, East Tennessee

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 1 book:

Lasso the Moon by Dennis Covington in Front Matter

16 books cite this book:

The Spiritual Gifts of Travel: The Best of Travelers' Tales by James O'Reilly on page 118, and Back Matter
Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church and State by Rob Boston on page 166
But Now I See: The White Southern Racial Conversion Narrative (Fleming Lectures in Southern History) by Fred Hobson in Back Matter
Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands by Loyal Jones in Back Matter
Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: Art, Desire, and the Forging of History by Kenneth D. S. Lapatin in Back Matter

See all 16 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

Discusses:

Murder Carries a Torch by Anne George

Discusses:

Saving Grace by Lee Smith

Discusses:

Foxfire 7 by Inc. Foxfire Fund

Discusses:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	95% buy the item featured on this page: Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia 4.3 out of 5 stars (55)
	2% buy The Serpent Handlers 5.0 out of 5 stars (8) $11.96
	1% buy Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia [SALVATION ON SAND MOUNTAIN] 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
	1% buy Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective 4.0 out of 5 stars (1) $26.50

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

appalachia(5)

snake-handlers(5)

religion(4)

christianity(3)

holiness(2)

snakes(2)

church(1)

devotion(1)

pentecostal(1)

religion and literature(1)

Agree with these tags?

See all 12 tags...

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

55 Reviews

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (55 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Grab, but Hard to Let Go, February 27, 2000

By	Mark S. Milwee (Gilroy, California) - See all my reviews

I found Dennis Covingtons book Salvation on Sand Mountain to be compelling reading for a number of reasons. First, I was born and raised on Sand Mountain and had heard stories of the snake handlers all of my life, but never had the desire or the inclination to attend one of these churches. Second, having grown up on Sand Mountain I was fascinated to read about the depth of the spiritual commitment of these people. Whether you agree with them or not you have to admit that it either takes a lot of faith, or lack of sense to stick your hand down into a box of rattle snakes! Third, I found this book compelling because as a Baptist pastor and son of a Baptist pastor that has preached all over Sand Mountain, I have to ask myself the question, "How could these people take such a hardline stance on a passage in the book of Mark that scholars argue over whether it was even meant to be included in the original manuscripts of the New Testament?" Of course, I know what the snake handlers would say, "All of his seminary training has ruined a good preacher!" Maybe so, but I'm not going to be sticking my hand into a box of rattlesnakes anytime soon to prove the validity of a questionable passage of Scripture. Finally, I found the book to be fascinating reading and although I question their theology, I admire someone that can believe in something so strongly that they are willing to risk their lives for that belief. Buy the book! You will find it hard to put down, or as I heard someone say once about rattlesnakes, "They are easy to grab, but hard to let go!"

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT WILL RATTLE YOUR SOUL!, January 13, 1999

By	jbice@hiwaay.net (Scottsboro, AL) - See all my reviews

I first read this book while in College. I found it so interesting that I found myself re-reading it over and over. It it an extrodinary look at Southern Apalachia, the culture and lives of it's Mountain people. The prologue is as a fine peice of southern literature as I have ever had the priveledge to read. Portions of the book are chilling, even more so, when you realize that it is all true. Little did I know that 2 years after first reading the book I would live directly in the middle of the area Covington wrote about. I have had the oportunity to meet and know some of the people he described. When my job forced my wife and I to move to Scottsboro, we used the book as a literal road map when we arrived. I have loaned it out several times. I would encourage anyone, in particular Southerners, to read this fascinating book. The recent and much publicised death of one of the book's characters (John Wayne "Punkin" Brown, who was bitten by a rattle snake and died at a recent church service) led me to re-read the it again. I still could not put it down. It is unlike anything I have ever read. When this book wraps itself around you and sinks in it's fangs, there is no letting go.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Religiously hypnotic look into the world of snake handling., January 25, 2000

By	Christian Engler (Woburn, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Salvation on Sand Mountain was a book that truly awed me to feel things that I never felt before when it came to faith and being closer with the Spirit. Covington's book will take readers to parts of Southern Appalachia that is so little understood and appreciated, the world of the snake handling, strychchnine drinking, tongue rattling Southerner who has carried this exotic tradition from generation down to generation. The intense faith and passion which these people believe and handle their serpants, is, in a crazy way, admirable and moving. Covington really does have an ear for the core message of what these handlers want to convey: handling snakes (however deadly some of them might be) is to be closer to God. The author writes with a compassionate, freakish warmth, a sacred reverence not just for the people involved but for an act that nobody would fathom themselves participating in. The prose is lush and stimulating and will draw many readers -- however sarcastic or doubtful they may be -- into this unique fire and brimstone subculture before they can sum an opinion of the people who handle snakes in the name of God. Salvation on Sand Mountain is indeed a book that has some of the best writing about the South.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 55 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars salvation on sand mt
I enjoyed reading the book; the book deals more with spirituality than actual snake handling as the title implies. Good book.

Tom Urrutia

Published 1 month ago by Thomas F. Urrutia

5.0 out of 5 stars Salvation on Sand Mountain
I live about 20 miles from Scottsboro and the area on Sand Mountain where much of the action described in Salvation on Sand Mountain takes place. Read more

Published 2 months ago by WR

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stirring Accont of Serpent Handling in the Pentecostal Movement!
I have had this book for several years now and have read it multiple times. What an amazing book this is! Read more

Published 2 months ago by d43boy

4.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Fascinating Book
I heard Dennis Covington's book "Salvation on Sand Mountain" referred to on talk radio program and thought it sounded like an interesting read. Read more

Published 8 months ago by James H. Boyd

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting exploration of religious unreason
This book takes us inside the world of snake handlers who pick up dangrous poisonous reptiles in the midsts of religious fervor as a way to get closer to God. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Alan A. Elsner

5.0 out of 5 stars an unforgettable book
The style, subject matter and pace are delightful. This fascinating book can be read for pure pleasure and the educational value is a bonus. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Roberta Green

1.0 out of 5 stars TERRIBLE!!
I never recieved the book that I bought so I don't ever recommend this person for anyone. I payed money for a book and I never got it. I am furious.

Published 13 months ago by Tonya D. Tuberville

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing read
This remarkable book tells of the author's interest in the serpent-handling Holiness believers of the south, his own spiritual journey and a search for his roots. Read more

Published on July 22, 2007 by Pieter

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving account of a culture and a spiritual quest
This remarkable book tells of the author's interest in the serpent-handling Holiness believers of the south, his own spiritual journey and a search for his roots. Read more

Published on July 21, 2007 by Pieter

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read.........
I read this book about 10 years ago. I immediately felt like I needed to check out a snake handling church on my own, mainly due to my morbid curiosity. Read more

Published on July 19, 2007 by gdawk64

› See all 55 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }

Customer Discussions

This product's forum

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
christianity Why Catholics Need Christ	8800	1 second ago
religion Why is it that atheist zealots who protest executions are also the first to want to give the needle to the late term baby?	80	4 seconds ago
christianity The "One World Order" and will you support it	59	10 seconds ago
christianity Sin of Sins (The Remix)	5000	28 seconds ago
religion HOW can a Rich Christian Nation Deny Health Care to the Poor, Letting them Die?	38	43 seconds ago
religion Does Dawkins Distort and Stereotype? Give Us Direct Quotes	119	1 minute ago
appalachia Appalachia - define that for me?	8	4 days ago