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.