The purge begins -- Introduction, The roots of terror -- Stalin prepares -- The Kirov murder -- Architect of terror -- Old Bolsheviks confess -- The problem of confession -- The Yezhov years -- Last stand -- Assault on the army -- The party crushed -- Nations in torment -- On the cultural front -- In the labor camps -- The great trial -- The foreign element -- Climax -- Aftermath -- Heritage of terror -- Epilogue, the terror today.