| Part 1 | Who Were Irishmen? | |
| 1 | Treaty Night | 3 |
| 2 | Contradictions of Irish Nationality | 6 |
| 3 | Strongbow (1170) to the Ulster Plantation (1609) | 9 |
| 4 | Great Rebellion (1641) to Penal Laws (1703) | 15 |
| 5 | Majority Living (1703-1880) | 21 |
| 6 | Minority Politics, 18th Century | 28 |
| Part 2 | The First Irish Republicans | |
| 1 | Ireland and the French Revolution | 41 |
| 2 | Wolfe Tone and Samuel Neilson | 46 |
| 3 | United Irishmen and Defenders | 54 |
| 4 | French Contacts | 63 |
| 5 | Defenders and Orangemen | 68 |
| 6 | Bantry Bay | 75 |
| 7 | United Irishmen in Trouble | 85 |
| 8 | New French Preparations | 91 |
| 9 | Repression, 1798 | 97 |
| 10 | Rebellion in Wexford | 108 |
| 11 | Collapse of United Irishmen | 122 |
| 12 | The French Landing | 132 |
| Part 3 | The Union | |
| 1 | The Making of the Union | 149 |
| 2 | Robert Emmet's Fall and Rise | 161 |
| 3 | The Failure of the Union | 170 |
| 4 | Daniel O'Connell and Catholic Emancipation | 179 |
| 5 | The Repeal Debate | 187 |
| 6 | O'Connell and Davis | 193 |
| 7 | 'Monster Meetings' | 202 |
| 8 | Biding Time After Clontarf | 212 |
| 9 | O'Connell's Imprisonment and After | 221 |
| 10 | More 'Monster Meetings' | 232 |
| 11 | Repeal, Famine and Young Ireland | 243 |
| 12 | The Irish Confederation | 256 |
| 13 | Smith O'Brien's 'Rising' 1848 | 270 |
| 14 | The Corpse on the Dissecting Table | 290 |
| 15 | Beginnings of the Fenian Movement | 299 |
| 16 | James Stephens at Work | 311 |
| 17 | Stephens In and Out of Trouble | 320 |
| 18 | 1867: Bold Fenian Men | 330 |
| 19 | The Manchester Martyrs | 341 |
| Part 4 | The Tragedy of Home Rule | |
| 1 | Beginnings of Home Rule | 351 |
| 2 | Parnell and the Land Crisis | 364 |
| 3 | Parnell and Home Rule | 376 |
| 4 | The Orange Card | 391 |
| 5 | Parnell's Fall | 405 |
| 6 | Second Home Rule Bill: Orangemen at Play | 413 |
| 7 | Nationalists at Ease | 422 |
| 8 | Growth of National Consciousness | 426 |
| 9 | Arthur Griffith and Sinn Fein | 438 |
| 10 | Asquith and the Third Home Rule Bill | 461 |
| 11 | Ulster Volunteers | 478 |
| 12 | The Liberal Nerve Begins to Fail | 484 |
| 13 | Volunteers and Home Rule | 497 |
| 14 | Volunteers and the European War | 513 |
| 15 | The 'Sinn Fein' Volunteers | 530 |
| 16 | Casement in Germany | 538 |
| 17 | The Dublin Rising, 1916 | 548 |
| 18 | Executions and Negotiations | 573 |
| Part 5 | Ourselves Alone | |
| 1 | Rebellion to De Valera's Election at Clare (July 1917) | 591 |
| 2 | The New Sinn Fein (July 1917-April 1918) | 604 |
| 3 | Conscription Crisis to General Election (December 1918) | 618 |
| 4 | Sinn Fein in a Vacuum (January-May 1919) | 629 |
| 5 | Michael Collins and Others (April-December 1919) | 641 |
| 6 | The Campaign of Killing (1919-20) | 651 |
| 7 | Enter Black and Tans (1920) | 666 |
| 8 | Murder by the Throat (1920) | 682 |
| 9 | War and Truce (1921) | 698 |
| 10 | Treaty (1921) | 719 |
| 11 | Nemesis (1922-3) | 732 |
| 12 | Epilogue | 748 |
| References | 753 |
| Select Bibliography | 823 |
| Index | 841 |
