1. The Dark Clouds Forming: 1953-1979 -- The Problem-Filled Structure -- The Stasi as Shielding Umbrella -- 2. Distant Rumblings: 1980-1986 -- Schwerin -- Berlin -- 3. The Winds Rising: 1987 -- Schwerin -- Berlin -- 4. The Lightning Striking: 1988 -- Schwerin -- Berlin -- 5. The Storm Breaking: Spring 1989 -- Schwerin -- Berlin -- 6. The Ground Shaking: Fall 1989 -- Schwerin -- Berlin -- 7. The Shambles Remaining: Winter 1989-1990 -- The MfS on the Brink -- The MfS by Another Name -- The More Things Change in the Secret Police -- The Whimpering End -- The Fading Away of Old Agents -- The Reports of Death Are Premature -- The Revolution Abandons Its Revolutionaries -- 8. What We Learn from the Secret Police -- What They Tell of Themselves -- Of the Enormity of the Public's Disaffection -- Of Discontents Like Those in the West -- The Accuracy of the Secret Police as Reporters and Analysts -- The Weaknesses of the Secret Police as Enforcers -- How Realities Defeated the Ideals.

The Secret Police as Dissidents -- The Secret Police as Rebels.