Snorton examines US history through the lens of race, gender, and identity, focusing more on individual cases rather than broader trends. This book layers on top of that a heaping dose of philosophical analysis, which depending on your preferences either adds to or detracts from that history. I did appreciate how Snorton straddled the history and gender studies fields well, although I think this book is more useful as historical grounding for racial and/or trans theories than as a history book alone