Introduction: Freedom Fighter, Reckless Thug, Hero-Saint. The Modern Historian's Picture. Three Ideas about the Image of Bar Kokhba in Jewish Thought. The Argument of This Book
1. Bar Kokhba in Rabbinic Literature. The Messianic Claimant. The Legends in the Jerusalem Talmud and Midrash Rabbah. The Great Gibbor. Literary Elements in the Story. Implications of the Story. The Two Traditions
2. Bar Kokhba in the Writings of Ibn Daud and Maimonides. Ibn Daud's Image of Bar Kokhba. Bar Kokhba in the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides. Changes in the Image of Bar Kokhba
3. Abravanel's Image of Bar Kokhba. The Polemical Context. The Problem of Bar Kokhba's Story. Abravanel's Solution: The Yearning for Redemption. The False Messiah. Agent of Divine Vengeance. Changes in Abravanel's Image of Bar Kokhba
4. Bar Kokhba in Sixteenth-Century Historical Writings. Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel (1553) / Samuel Usque. The Vale of Tears (1575) / Yosef Ha-Kohen. Book of Genealogies (1504) / Abraham Zacuto.

Light to the Eyes (1573) / Azariah de' Rossi. The Chain of Tradition (1587) / Gedaliah ibn Yahya. Sprout of David (1592) / David Gans. Persecutions, Eschatology, and History
5. Bar Kokhba in the Later Kabbalah. Sefer Ha-Gilgulim. Nathan's Letters. The Kabbalistic Image of Bar Kokhba
Appendix: Roman and Christian Writings on the Jewish Rebellion of 116-117 and the War of Bar Kokhba.