A journalist describes an assignment in the mountains of Alabama which led to his spiritual journey into the world of holiness snake handling, a faith whose followers characteristically place themselves in life-threatening situations. Reprint. Tour.

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

Religion & Spirituality

Covington, Dennis

Christian Books & Bibles

Penguin??Books

Describes a trial, in which the leader of a snake-handling cult was convicted of trying to murder his wife with rattlesnakes

Salvation On Sand Moutain: Snake Handling And Redemption In Southern Appalachia

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Addison-Wesley Publishing

A haunting exploration of faith, from a preacher convicted of attempted murder to a first-hand account of holiness serpent handling--"One of the best books on American religion from the last 25 years" (Chicago Tribune) For New York Times reporter Dennis Covington, what began as a journalistic assignment-covering the trial of an Alabama pastor convicted of attempting to murder his wife with poisonous snakes-would evolve into a headlong plunge into a bizarre, mysterious, and ultimately irresistible world of unshakable faith: the world of holiness snake handling.Set in the heart of Appalachia, Salvation on Sand Mountain is Covington's unsurpassed and chillingly captivating exploration of the nature, power, and extremity of faith-an exploration that gradually turns inward, until Covington finds himself taking up the snakes.

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

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Da Capo

Acclaimed journalist Dennis Covington examines how faith and violence shape our world. In war zones witnessing widespread conflict, what makes life at all worth living? When chaos becomes a way of life in places where religion and violence intersect, what do people hold on to? If religious belief is, as Christopher Hitchens argues, the cause of wars and genocide, then is faith the cure? Dennis Covington pursued answers to these questions for years, traveling deep into places like Syria, Mexico, and the American South. Looking not for rigid doctrines, creeds, or beliefs -- which, he says, can be contradictory, even dangerous -- he sought something bigger and more fundamental: faith. It's faith in goodness, kindness, and the humanity of the smallest moments that makes the most difficult times bearable. The young bomb victim who offers a smile from his hospital bed, the grieving parent who shares a photograph, the joined hands of men who were previously mortal enemies, and Covington's own family turmoil. These are some of the moments that leave him touching the beating heart of what it truly is to live. Like Covington's widely celebrated Salvation on Sand Mountain, Revelation is an intensely personal journey that goes to the edges of a world filled with violence and religious strife to find the enduring worth of living.

Revelation: A Search for Faith in a Violent Religious World

History

World

Little. Brown and Company

When 17-year-old April Hunter first sees Fernando, it is easy to dismiss him as just another of her father's indigent Latin American patients. Yet, despite her feelings, April can't keep herself from thinking about Fernando. How did he get the horrendous scar on his neck? What is his birthplace, El Paraiso, El Salvador, like? As curiosity turns to fascination and fascination to love, April learns the horrifying and mind-boggling story of Fernando's life. But when she hears a different story from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, she has to wonder whom to trust. From the Paperback edition.

Lasso the Moon

Teen & Young Adult

Literature & Fiction

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Lizard

With sea-green eyes more on the side of his head than most people's and a nose that lies on its side, Lucius Sims resembles a reptile. That's why he was sent to the Leesville Louisiana State School for Retarded Boys even though no one ever proved he was mentally handicapped. but the state school is no place for a wide-eyed thirteen-year-old boy who wants to see the world. So when a shoe salesman from up north arrives claiming to be his father, Lizard takes a chance. Lizard knows his real father is dead, but he also knows that this impostor could be his only ticket to freedom.

Laurel-Leaf

From the Publisher When 17-year-old April Hunter first sees Fernando, it is easy to dismiss him as just another of her father's indigent Latin American patients.Yet, despite her feelings, April can't keep herself from thinking about Fernando. How did he get the horrendous scar on his neck? What is his birthplace, El Paraiso, El Salvador, like? As curiosity turns to fascination and fascination to love, April learns the horrifying and mind-boggling story of Fernando's life. But when she hears a different story from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, she has to wonder whom to trust. Product Description When 17-year-old April Hunter first sees Fernando, it is easy to dismiss him as just another of her father's indigent Latin American patients.Yet, despite her feelings, April can't keep herself from thinking about Fernando. How did he get the horrendous scar on his neck? What is his birthplace, El Paraiso, El Salvador, like? As curiosity turns to fascination and fascination to love, April learns the horrifying and mind-boggling story of Fernando's life. But when she hears a different story from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, she has to wonder whom to trust. Amazon.com Review April is curious about her father's new patient Fernando, an El Salvadorian refugee. Soon, her curiosity turns to fascination, and it's not long before her heart becomes tangled with feelings of love for the young man with the frightening past. When Immigration and Naturalization Service officials begin snooping around and threatening her father for helping Fernando, she discovers a whole new side to the man who raised her. Dennis Covington is a brilliant storyteller--crafting these characters with realism, compassion, and just enough of a rough edge so that they sparkle from the page. This is a powerful tale of many different kinds of love. From Publishers Weekly LASSO THE MOON Dennis Covington. Dell/Laurel-Leaf, $4.50 ISBN 0-440-22013-0. The 17-year-old daughter of a recovering alcoholic becomes friends with an illegal alien from El Salvador; PW praised the "well-observed setting" and "thoughtfully probed relationships." Ages 12-up. (Sept.) rCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Inside Flap -old April Hunter first sees Fernando, it is easy to dismiss him as just another of her father's indigent Latin American patients.Yet, despite her feelings, April can't keep herself from thinking about Fernando. How did he get the horrendous scar on his neck? What is his birthplace, El Paraiso, El Salvador, like? As curiosity turns to fascination and fascination to love, April learns the horrifying and mind-boggling story of Fernando's life. But when she hears a different story from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, she has to wonder whom to trust.

LASSO THE MOON (Laurel-Leaf Books)

Demco Media

Children's Books

Bloomsbury Publishing, Limited

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