This book is an outgrowth of a Research Symposium on the Modular Representation Theory of Finite Groups, held at the University of Virginia in May 1998. The main themes of this symposium were represenations of groups of Lie type in nondefining (or cross) characteristic, and recent developments in block theory. Series of lectures were given by M. Geck, A. Kleshchev and R. Rouquier, and their brief was to present material at the leading edge of research but accessible to graduate students working in the field. The first three articles are substantial expansions of their lectures, and each provides a complete account of a significant area of the subject together with an extensive bibliography. The remaining articles are based on some of the other lectures given at the symposium; some again are full surveys of the topic covered while others are short, but complete, research articles. The opportunity has been taken to produce a book of enduring value so that this is not a conference proceedings in the conventional sense.
Material has been updated so that this book, through its own content and in its extensive bibliographies, will serve as a valuable resource for all those working in the area, whether established researchers or graduate students who wish to gain general knowledge of the subject starting from a single source.