Part one: Constructing the self (1870-1900). A little girl ; The seduction of theater ; Excellency, I will study medicine ; The anatomy museum ; Lessons on the cadaver ; Walks on the Pincian Hill ; Reaching out to the people ; Up with women's unrest ; A woman on the ward ; Giuseppe Montesano ; The boy savage ; Let them shout and they will talk ; The secret son ; A pioneering speech ; A new woman ; a Niagara of words ; The lesson of things ; A different teacher ; More painful than losing the man you love
Part two: Discovering her mission (1901-1907). A great faith ; Back to university ; A partisan of free love ; Sorceress, witch, enchantress of the young ; He who possesses love is a god ; All women, rise up! ; The communion of sins ; San Lorenzo ; Thy light is come ; The children's house ; Blocks, clay, and pencils ; The immense work ; The marvelous fact ; Sandpaper letters ; The explosion of writing
Part three: The first disciples (1908-1913). An angelic baroness ; New people who speak in us ; Just three darling girls ; The martyred saint of the movement ; The humanitarian society of Milan ; Give the child exactness ; Producing the material ; A thorny individual ; Like flies in summer ; The year of farewells ; The school in the convent ; Taking religion to the people ; A pilgrimage ; Montessori, Rome ; An American impresario ; The refound son ; Before the international tribunal ; The first American tensions ; Institutes, manuals, and other squabbles ; The most interesting woman in Europe
Part four: Managing success (1914-1934). A triumphal tour ; Montessori fever ; Where are my trusted friends? ; I know nothing about business, that I do know ; Away from Europe at war ; Jealous, in some ways fanatical ; New things, houses as high as the sky ; The glass classroom ; A ball of fire ; La escuela Montessori ; The divine friend of children ; Handmaiden in the world ; The advanced method ; Freedom with material ; The white cross ; The teachers college ; The Montessori babes ; A socialist friend ; Development around the world ; British pragmatism ; Between socialism and psychoanalysis ; Coming home ; A hard year ; Bombastic pronouncements, covert impediments ; Montessorism without Montessori ; The break with fascism
Part five: Cosmic education (1934-1952). The AMI and Mario's rise ; Among the peoples ; Children of the Earth ; The great vision ; India ; The great spirit ; Enemies and foreigners ; The completion of the idea ; The method is a small thing ; My country is a star ; The epoch of surprises ; I don't think, I see ; The house by the sea.
