This book is a fashionable and somewhat casual presentation of the classical content of an introductory course in abstract algebra that concentrates on groups, rings, and fields. Galois theory in introduced, and the book culminates by showing that quantic polynomials are not solvable by radicals.

The book is well designed for individual reading or as a directed reading course. It is also appropriate to use as a text for a regular college class. Indeed, it is suitable to use prior to or concurrent with a first course in calculus, although some might suggest that the discussion of certain topics could benefit from the mathematical maturity of a typical mathematics major at the sophomore level or beyond.