| | List of Maps | p. viii |
| | Acknowledgments | p. ix |
| | Introduction | p. 1 |
| | The Prince's Education, 1901-1921 | |
| | The Boy, the Family, and the Meiji Legacies | p. 21 |
| | Cultivating an Emperor | p. 57 |
| | Confronting the Real World | p. 83 |
| | The Politics of Good Intentions, 1922-1930 | |
| | The Regency and the Crisis of Taisho Democracy | p. 127 |
| | The New Monarchy and the New Nationalism | p. 171 |
| | A Political Monarch Emerges | p. 205 |
| | His Majesty's Wars, 1931-1945 | |
| | The Manchurian Transformation | p. 235 |
| | Restoration and Repression | p. 279 |
| | Holy War | p. 317 |
| | Stalemate and Escalation | p. 359 |
| | Prologue to Pearl Harbor | p. 387 |
| | The Ordeal of Supreme Command | p. 439 |
| | Delayed Surrender | p. 487 |
| | The Unexamined Life, 1945-1989 | |
| | A Monarchy Reinvented | p. 533 |
| | The Tokyo Trial | p. 581 |
| | Salvaging the Imperial Mystique | p. 619 |
| | The Quiet Years and the Legacies of Showa | p. 647 |
| | Notes | p. 689 |
| | Index | p. 771 |