SALVATION ON SAND MOUNTAIN: Snake Handling and...

SALVATION ON SAND MOUNTAIN: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington (Penguin: $11.95; 240 pp., illustrated). When Covington reported the trial of a snake-handling pastor accused of attempted murder, he found himself drawn into an outre fundamentalist sect, whose members demonstrate their faith by drinking poison and handling venomous snakes. Covington tied his fascination to his Southern roots--and to his daredevil tendencies: “I’ve always been drawn to danger. Alcohol. Psychedelics. War. If it made me feel good, I’d do it.” Covington tried snake-handling but quarreled with the group over the role of women in the church. The reader is left thinking that if this talented writer can’t resist fondling rattlesnakes, he’d better not write about heroin addiction or carjacking.