PROLOGUE STARTS AT 7PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 11TH
WATCH THE RECORDED WEBINAR, HERE
On Monday, October 11th, host Ben Steelman of the Star News sat down (virtually) with author John Shelton Reed to discuss his new book On Barbecue.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the collection, On Barbecue, Reed compiles reviews, essays, magazine articles, op-eds, and book extracts from his many-year obsession with the history and culture of barbecue. Brought together, these pieces constitute a broad look at the cultural, culinary, historical, and social aspects of this American institution.
Reed’s original and provocative voice carries through this collection, which spans more than twenty years of barbecue lore. A lover of tradition whose study of regional distinctions has made him prize and defend them, Reed writes with conviction on what “real” barbecue looks, smells, and tastes like. He delves into the history of barbecue and even the origins of the word barbecue itself. Other topics include present-day barbecue, Carolina ’cue and other regional varieties, and even the role of "barbeculture" in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Reed is the author of 22 books, including The Enduring South, Glorious Battle and (with his late wife Dale) Holy Smoke: The Big Book of Southern Barbecue.
He has been a consultant for Southern Living, Quaker Grits, and the Turner South cable network; dramaturg for the musical comedy Kudzu; and a judge at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. He is co-founder and Éminence Grease of the Campaign for Real Barbecue (TrueCue.org) and a lieutenant colonel in the Unorganized Militia of South Carolina.
Reed has also been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the National Humanities Center, and twice a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition to holding visiting positions at several universities, he taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, retiring in 2000 as William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of sociology and director of the Howard Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. He helped to found the university's Center for the Study of the American South and the quarterly Southern Cultures.
