Abercrombie aims to reveal Don Antonio's story in all its complexity, placing it fully into its historical and cultural context. He provides a portrait and analysis of Antonio drawing from documents from judicial procedures and also prior to his life as Maria. Part of Abercrombie's argument is the doctors who examined Antonio after the accusation left enough ambiguity for him to argue through about his identity.

Abercromie's method aims to use the terms of historical contemporaries and to distinguish the social actions that they would have recognised. He does not classify Maria/Antonio with the modern terms of LGBTQIA. He does not ground the concept of identity and does not separate sex and gender when talking about Antonio/Maria. It is easier to see Don Antonio's life because he has an account of his own life and his mother's account too, to make a biographical sketch.

Abercrombie uses ‘passing’ in the context because there is no possibility of remaining un-stigmatized by Antonio’s bodily sex and because it contradicts his enactments of maleness. He wants to immerse the reader in late 18th-century ways of knowing.

Abercrombie uses ideas of theatre and performance. He talks about gender performance and speculates about conflicting accounts. It was fascinating. I enjoyed this book a lot. It shows scholars there are many ways to do a micro-history and connect it to the broader world.