There was no turning back... What has been done was done, and although Aquiles did not know how far he would go or what would happen, his world had undeniably changed. His curiosity, the double intentions, the hints, and the phrases with double meaning, had been left behind. Instead, that kiss had turned his straight man structure upside down. The armor Aquiles had put on to preserve himself and protect himself from something that even he knew, finally rusty and battered, had fallen. It was time to face the situation and accommodate his ideas to continue living a life that would surely not be the same. In this third book of the Aquiles’ saga, Gonzalo Narvreón continues to make us travel through captivating landscapes and situations, making us spectators of the internal conflicts that Achilles faces and the desire that grows in him. That feeling will tempt him to experiment and let himself be carried away into a new world, which until now was alien and unknown to him and in which he will probably discover sensations and pleasures that he never imagined being able to feel.

This work is the result of a master’s dissertation, but especially of the author’s concern to understand how, in the 21st century, we are still discussing degrading forms of labour without ever having actually freed ourselves from the chains of slavery experienced in centuries past. The state of Tocantins, as one of the Brazilian states that most often supplies slave labour, as well as importing this form of labour, has repercussions both domestically and internationally, which is why the study was justified. The north of Brazil, where the state of Tocantins is located, is a vast region with low levels of education, where many people live below the poverty line and with little state action, making it a favourable environment for workers to be recruited in slavery-like conditions. However, modern slavery has much deeper roots than can be measured and was only formally extinguished by political and economic interests, which contributes to the fact that even today the issue is the subject of worldwide studies and criticism, since the marginalised class of yesteryear has become the modern slaves of today. Unfortunately, history proves that the abolition of slavery was due to British pressure on Brazil to establish a new society: the consumer society. In other words, the new type of society would require products to be commercialised, but above all people to consume them, which justified the end of slavery. However, the end of slavery did not really mean the end of the exploitation of human labour power, because the excluded class of former slaves formed the marginalised class of modern Brazilian society, as they were left at the mercy of a capitalist system that was not inclusive and had no real opportunities for social mobility. Thus, this class of workers defined the future of their generations in which the barriers of social injustice and non-belonging could never be overcome because labour for the former slaves was never an emancipating mechanism, marking secular social injustices that continue to this day. The truth is that freed slaves, especially black, poor and illiterate slaves, started to be chained in other ways, especially those that caused physical and emotional illness, because they had to be subjected to degrading work due to the lack of education, culture and opportunities, making the same slave society of ancient times persist, but in a new guise. The slave of precision, that is, the individual who faces the absence of opportunities to achieve basic survival, becomes the worker in conditions similar to slavery by accepting work in precarious and humiliating conditions for personal and family needs given the demands of the capitalist world, creating a favourable environment for the perpetuation of modern slavery. Therefore, it is against this backdrop that the study of labour in conditions analogous to slavery becomes fundamental so that one day we can actually put an end to this vicious cycle from the perspective of coordinated actions between the various bodies that are responsible at the domestic legal level for combating and eradicating neo-slavery once and for all.

The seed was sown... The unexpected and furtive experience lived with Alejandro had put Aquiles in front of the door that would lead him to a world that, until that moment, was completely alien and unknown to him. His desire and the search to have a family with Marina will lead him to a state of sexual voracity, typical of the stallion “macho” who seeks to procreate. But this feeling will be confronted with the curiosity and the unexpected attraction Aquiles will begin to feel by opening that door. The relaxation of the vacations in exotic places and the interaction with couples that go through their lives openly and liberally will bring him closer and closer to that door that, perhaps, at some point, he will dare to open. Only the fear of a journey of no return and his straight male structure will keep chained his inner tiger that has already woken up hungry and eager to satisfy his voracity.

An original and groundbreaking examination of the psychological devastation of war through the lens of Homer’s Iliad in this “compassionate book [that] deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War” (The New York Times). In this moving and dazzlingly creative book, Dr. Jonathan Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A classic of war literature that has as much relevance as ever in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Achilles in Vietnam is a “transcendent literary adventure” (The New York Times) and “clearly one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam War” (Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried). As a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, Shay encountered devastating stories of unhealed PTSD and uncovered the painful paradox—that fighting for one’s country can render one unfit to be a citizen. With a sensitive and compassionate examination of the battles many Vietnam veterans continue to fight, Shay offers readers a greater understanding of PTSD and how to alleviate the potential suffering of soldiers. Although the Iliad was written twenty-seven centuries ago, Shay shows how it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets. A groundbreaking and provocative monograph, Achilles in Vietnam takes readers on a literary journey that demonstrates how we can learn how war damages the mind and spirit, and work to change those things in our culture that so that we don’t continue repeating the same mistakes.