Newspapers, the Civil War, love, barbecue . . . Nothing escapes Hodges' twisted sense of southern culture in his outrageous novel B-Four. Beauregard Forrest has been a faithful son to his wealthy and quirky father, joining him in Civil War reenactments and morning coffee, and an uncomplaining second fiddle to his brother Jackson, an ex-Crimson Tide football player. To please his father, Beauregard works as a cub reporter at the Birmingham Standard-Dispatch, a job his father hopes will raise Beauregard's college entrance test scores and gain him admittance to prestigious and gentrified Washington and Lee University. Far from honing his skills and sharpening his wit, however, Beauregard's assignments at the Standard-Dispatch—Pet of the Week and obituaries—promise to bury him in Section B, Page 4, hence his nickname. Beauregard's road to Page 1 is filled with more potholes than an Alabama back road. Assigned to cover a speech by a British cleric, the young reporter believes he may have escaped journalistic limbo, only to discover the entire sermon delivered in Latin. When he files his story partly in Latin, he finds himself once again covering breaking news at the Humane Society. Hoping to woo his love interest, Lorena, and wow his fellow reporters with a sizzling front-page scoop, B-Four investigates an anti-Atlanta campaign organized by the Birmingham Boosters. The hilarity that ensues launches him on the road to self-discovery.