| Foreword | |
| Introduction, 1971 | |
| Michelet Discovers Vico | 5 |
| Michelet and the Middle Ages | 9 |
| Michelet and the Revolution | 15 |
| Michelet Tries to Live His History | 26 |
| Michelet Between Nationalism and Socialism | 29 |
| Decline of the Revolutionary Tradition: Renan | 37 |
| Decline of the Revolutionary Tradition: Taine | 46 |
| Decline of the Revolutionary Tradition: Anatole France | 56 |
| Origins of Socialism: Babeuf's Defense | 71 |
| Origins of Socialism: Saint-Simon's Hierarchy | 80 |
| Origins of Socialism: The Communities of Fourier and Owen | 87 |
| Origins of Socialism: Enfantin and the American Socialists | 98 |
| Karl Marx: Prometheus and Lucifer | 111 |
| Karl Marx Decides to Change the World | 120 |
| Friedrich Engels: The Young Man from Manchester | 128 |
| The Partnership of Marx and Engels | 139 |
| Marx and Engels: Grinding the Lens | 150 |
| Marx and Engels Take a Hand at Making History | 161 |
| The Myth of the Dialectic | 177 |
| Marx and Engels Go Back to Writing History | 197 |
| Historical Actors: Lassalle | 225 |
| Historical Actors: Bakunin | 256 |
| Karl Marx: Poet of Commodities and Dictator of the Proletariat | 284 |
| Karl Marx Dies at His Desk | 324 |
| Lenin: The Brothers Ulyanov | 343 |
| Lenin: The Great Headmaster | 367 |
| Trotsky: The Young Eagle | 397 |
| Trotsky Identifies History with Himself | 422 |
| Lenin Identifies Himself with History | 438 |
| Lenin at the Finland Station | 449 |
| Appendices | 467 |
| Index | 493 |