First published in 1981, this book reassesses the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists living in Boston in 1920 that were accused of a payroll robbery and the murder of two guards for which they were arrested and, after a long trial based on inadequate and prejudiced evidence, executed in 1927. In 1977, the Commonwealth of Massachusettes issued a proclamation which acknowledged a miscarriage of justice.

Prelude; Acknowledgements; Part I: A winter's tale 1. Christmas Eve 1919 2. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti 3. A crime punishable by death 4. Cross-examination 5. Eels and the electric chair 6. In Death Row; Interlude: A long shadow Part II: Half a Century Later 7. In State House 8. Little secrets in little boxes 9. 'There seemed to be no doubt at all' 10. 'Have you agreed upon your verdict?' 11. Culture or anarchy 12. 'The storming of heaven'