Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World is a firsthand account of the cultural aspects of the 17th-century Spanish colonial empire from the perspective of a female conquistador. In this era, a man’s life and honor depended on how well he could handle a sword and how quick he was to use it. As a woman, Erauso has to quickly adapt to this world when she assumes a man’s life.