Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky - Softcover

Kimbrough, David L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807845337 ISBN 13: 9780807845332

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr, 1995

Synopsis

The Holiness serpent handlers, who originated around 1910, are one of the most controversial religious groups in America. Their practice has brought them into conflict with authorities many times, and the often sensationalized media accounts of their services fascinate and horrify us. But as David Kimbrough so ably documents, snake handlers are sincere worshipers who honestly believe that they are protected by God when they take up serpents.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Kimbrough presents his research, based primarily on oral interviews, on the history of the religious ritual of snake handling. He focuses on the Saylor family to illustrate the evolution of the snake-handling movement, which intensified as the economy and lifestyle of the Appalachian Mountain region moved from agricultural subsistence to industrial capitalism. When families moved from farms to coal fields, folk religions emerged to fulfill emotional needs not met by traditional churches. Kimbrough's work is much more scholarly and analytical than Dennis Covington's Salvation on Sand Mountain (LJ 12/94) and more narrowly focused than Thomas Burton's Snake Handling Believers (LJ 3/15/93). Recommended for academic collections.?Eloise R. Hitchcock, Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., Cookeville
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0807845337
• ISBN 13: 9780807845332
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 290