It was a warm summer day in 2002 when Arkansas Democrat-Gazette executive editor Griffin Smith invited me to lunch at Whole Hog on Cantrell Road in Little Rock. Others at the luncheon, their sleeves rolled up while doing battle with pulled pork sandwiches dripping with BBQ sauce, were editorial director Paul Greenberg and Ed Gray, editor of the book pages. Griffin s vision for a new column on Arkansas history was to add life to that neglected part of the paper.