"This book challenges Mexican narratives of the partriarchal gender binary by looking at the Muxes, a gender fluid indigenous group readily accepted by their community"--Provided by publisher.

Minutes before Brian Walsh, then just a teenager, heard his beeper go off, calling him to help put out another fire, he was on top of the world. An hour later, after a freak flashover and confusion that sent the junior firefighter into the inferno against regulations, Brian had suffered such profound burns to his face that he was unidentifiable to his fellow firefighters. Nearly everyone expected him to die that night. He did not. Nearly everyone expected him to die in the burn unit where, over the next month, every other patient died. Nearly everyone, including family and friends, expected Brian to choose a professional life that would keep him from showing his face, and the personal life of a hermit. He did not. Boldly forging a path forward with courage, grace, and determination, Brian silenced his doubters and defied all expectations. Decades later, Brian is an extraordinarily successful and renowned financial planner, family man, community fixture, philanthropist, motivational speaker, and industry leader. In this stirring autobiography, he tells his incredible story, sharing the lessons that only tragedy could teach and how they helped him—and can help anyone—achieve greater success, inside and out. Beyond the Mask is the moving and inspirational story of how one horrific moment can define a human being forever—in the most life-affirming way.

"It's not always our enemies who betray us."

This boldly original book explores the origins, meanings, and forms of women's aggression. Drawing from in-depth interviews with sixty women of different ages and ethnic and class backgrounds--police officers, attorneys, substance abusers, homemakers, artists--Dana Jack provides a rich account of how women explain (or explain away) their own hidden or actual acts of hurt to others. With sensitivity but without sentimentality, Jack gives readers a range of compelling stories of how women channel, either positively or destructively, their own powerful force and of how they resist and retaliate in the face of others' aggression in a society that expects women to be yielding, empathetic, and supportive. Arguing that aggression arises from failures in relationships, Jack portrays the many forms that women's aggression can take, from veiled approaches used to resist, control, and take vengeance on others, to aggression that reflects despair, to aggression that may be a hopeful sign of new strength. Throughout the book, Jack shows the positive sides of aggression as women struggle with internal and external demons, reconnect with others, and create the courage to stand their ground. This work broadens our understanding of aggression as an interpersonal phenomenon rooted in societal expectations, and offers exciting new approaches for exploring the variations of this vexing human experience.

High above the city, a young guardian searches for the enemy...and finds love. In a city rife with evil, masked protectors secretly watch over the inhabitants, keeping the citizens safe while hiding their own identity. One young Sentinel, however, violates her oath and loses her heart to the woman she is charged to protect. By day, Pagan Osborne is a shy security specialist working in the family business. By night, as a Sentinel, she fulfils a greater family legacy and battles the criminals who threaten Chastilian's peace. Erith Baylor, a fiery young woman with her own secrets to hide, is drawn to Pagan's quiet charm and silent strength. But with so many secrets between them, their attraction could break the ties of family and finally reveal the truth behind the mask.

She was not expected to survive. She became the lady in the mask. In October 1999, Pam Warren's life was turned on its head when she sustained horrific injuries in the Paddington rail crash. The casualties numbered thirty-one dead and over five hundred injured. Pam underwent scores of operations to rebuild her burnt body, and had to wear a plastic mask over her face for twenty-three hours a day over an eighteen-month period. Unwittingly, she became the public face of the disaster. Over a decade on from that terrible event, From Behind the Mask charts the true inside story of Pam's journey from victim to survivor and campaigner. Following the crash she became the UK's leading spokesperson for improving rail safety, battling with rail management executives and the government - and winning. She was branded a troublemaker, but Pam and fellow members of the Paddington Survivors' Group helped bring about great improvements on our railways. For years Pam remained focused on that campaign. Now, for the first time, she can tell us all what really happened. It is an inspirational story of determination and courage.