This book traces the history of how transgender, third gender, and other varieties of gender-nonconforming individuals have functioned in various societies, and documents how different societies' understanding of sex and gender has changed over time. It also examines how the legal rights of these individuals have evolved (or devolved).

Brazil: a land of contradictions -- Native Americans go from berdache to two-spirit -- Polynesian transgender populations -- The Third Reich -- Transgender America -- Hijras -- The future is nonbinary.