Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia

Rating:
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.

Rating:
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.

Rating:
Summary: Taking Up Serpents
Review: When I first read this book about five years ago, I was completely absorbed by the whole 'snake-handling' thing. Everything else Covington was trying to say was fine, but in essence I smiled and nodded while transfixed by the ecstasies and agonies of the handlers. When I returned to it a year or so later, I began to understand a little of the personal journey Covington was trying to describe, in which the snakes and their handlers played a central but certainly not exclusive role. I also knew he was trying to make some point about poverty and powerlessness and being from the South, but... whatever.

Having rediscovered it recently and finished it for the third time, I've come to relish it far more completely than before. Covington tackles snake-handling, spiritual warfare, Southern culture, and self-analysis--weaving them together in a narrative tapestry that doesn't begin to exhaust any single element but dips into each thoughtfully. Don't look for extensive theology, or a sociological overview of Southern history, or (thank God) anything resembling an altar call when it's all over. Look instead for a moving portrayal of some very real people (who in this case happen to have a spiritual fetish for drinking poison and playing with rattlers) and what they end up meaning to Covington. It's bizarre, to be sure, but it's honest and enlightening in the most unexpected ways.