What did it mean to be a man in colonial Latin America? More specifically, what did indigenous and Iberian groups think of men who had sexual relations with other men? Providing comprehensive analyses of how male homosexualities were represented in areas under both Portuguese and Spanish control, "Infamous Desire" is the first book-length attempt to answer such questions. Each of the contributors connects male homosexual behaviour to broader gender systems - both indigenous and European - that defined masculinity and femininity, and relate sodomy to concepts of desire and power. But they sometimes draw very different conclusions. For instance, based on his study of the "berdache" (indigenous cross-dressers), Richard Trexler argues that homosexuality as we know it today did not exist in colonial Latin America, while Luiz Mott uses Inquisition documents to reveal a community of sodomites whom he believes shared a homosexual identity rooted in their common oppression. "Infamous Desire" should be valuable for anyone studying sexuality, gender or power relations in colonial Latin America.

Pete Sigal is associate professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles. He is the author of From Moon Goddesses to Virgins: The Colonization of Yucatecan Maya Sexual Desire.