本书及其配套著作是一位在耶鲁任教20年的代数专家的著作。内森·雅各布森的书具有概念和理论导向，除了作为课堂文本的价值外，它们还是有价值的参考资料。

卷一探讨了本科课程中通常涉及的所有主题，包括集合论、群论、环、模块、伽罗瓦理论、多项式、线性代数和联想代数的基础知识。它的综合处理扩展到代数、格和布尔代数等严格的主题。贯穿全文的练习，以及有见地的、经过仔细解释的证明。

卷二包含了代数研究生一年级课程的所有科目，它以更深入和复杂的方式重新讨论了卷一的许多主题。

A classic text and standard reference for a generation, this volume and its companion are the work of an expert algebraist who taught at Yale for two decades. Nathan Jacobson's books possess a conceptual and theoretical orientation, and in addition to their value as classroom texts, they serve as valuable references.

Volume I explores all of the topics typically covered in undergraduate courses, including the rudiments of set theory, group theory, rings, modules, Galois theory, polynomials, linear algebra, and associative algebra. Its comprehensive treatment extends to such rigorous topics as Lie and Jordan algebras, lattices, and Boolean algebras. Exercises appear throughout the text, along with insightful, carefully explained proofs. Volume II comprises all subjects customary to a first-year graduate course in algebra, and it revisits many topics from Volume I with greater depth and sophistication.

One of the world's leading researchers in abstract algebra, Nathan Jacobson (1910-95) taught at several prominent universities, including the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, and Yale.