Book excerpt: "Most of these topics appear here for the first time in book form. Many of them are interesting even in the classical case of semi-simple algebraic groups. Some appendices recall useful results from other areas, so the work may be considered self-contained, although some familiarity with semi-simple Lie algebras or algebraic groups is helpful. It is clear that this book is a valuable reference for all those interested in flag varieties and representation theory in the semi-simple or Kac-Moody case." —MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS "A lot of different topics are treated in this monumental work. . . . many of the topics of the book will be useful for those only interested in the finite-dimensional case. The book is self contained, but is on the level of advanced graduate students. . . . For the motivated reader who is willing to spend considerable time on the material, the book can be a gold mine. " —ZENTRALBLATT MATH