Jim Auchmutey is author of the new book "Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America," the companion volume to the Barbecue Nation exhibition he helped curate at the Atlanta History Center. An Atlanta native, he was an editor and reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for almost 30 years, specializing in stories about the South and its history and culture. He was twice named the Cox Newspaper chain's Writer of the Year and was honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, the Associated Press and the Sigma Delta Chi journalism society. He has co-authored two cookbooks, is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and has won awards for his food writing from the James Beard Foundation and the Association of Food Journalists. His previous book was "The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long Road to Forgiveness.," a story of race, religion and reconciliation set at Koinonia, the Christian community in southwest Georgia where Habitat for Humanity was born.