At 83 years of age, John Shelton Reed has authored or edited a whopping two dozen books. His most recent work, “The Ramos Gin Fizz,” was published this summer by LSU Press as part of their popular series on iconic New Orleans cocktails.

The book fits well into Reed’s oeuvre, most of which has focused on the contemporary American South. That makes sense for a lifelong Southerner. He was born in Kingsport, Tennessee, but has lived in Chapel Hill since 1969, when he took a job teaching sociology at the University of North Carolina.

“The only time I moved out of the South was 10 years for college and graduate school, but then I came back with great relief,” he laughed. “I wanted my daughters to grow up as Southerners, though now they live in California and Rhode Island, so the joke is on me.

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