Book excerpt: Ch. 1. Linear harmonic waves in dispersive systems. Initial-value problem and problem with an external source. 1. Harmonic waves in dispersive systems. 2. Initial-value problem. Eigenmode method. 3. Characteristic function of the state vector. Dispersion operator. 4. Laplace transform method -- ch. 2. A case study of linear waves in dispersive media. 5. Transverse electromagnetic waves in an isotropic dielectric. 6. Longitudinal electrostatic waves in a cold isotropic plasma. Collisional dissipation of plasma waves. 7. Transverse electromagnetic waves in a cold isotropic plasma. Dissipation of transverse waves in a plasma. 8. Electromagnetic waves in metals. 9. Electromagnetic waves in a waveguide with an isotropic dielectric. 10. Longitudinal waves in a hot isotropic plasma. Electron diffusion in a plasma. 11. Longitudinal waves in an isotropic degenerate plasma. Waves in a quantum plasma. 12. Ion acoustic waves in a nonisothermal plasma. Ambipolar diffusion. 13. Electromagnetic waves in a waveguide with an anisotropic plasma in a strong external magnetic field. 14. Electromagnetic waves propagating in a magnetized electron plasma along a magnetic field. 15. Electrostatic waves propagating in a magnetized electron plasma at an angle to a magnetic field. 16. Magnetohydrodynamic waves in a conducting fluid. 17. Acoustic waves in crystals. 18. Longitudinal electrostatic waves in a one-dimensional electron beam. 19. Beam instability in a plasma. 20. Instability of a current-carrying plasma -- ch. 3. Linear waves in coupled media. Slow amplitude method. 21. Coupled oscillator representation and slow amplitude method. 22. Beam-plasma system in the coupled oscillator representation. 23. Basic equations of microwave electronics. 24. Resonant Buneman instability in a current-carrying plasma in the coupled oscillator representation. 25. Dispersion function and wave absorption in dissipative systems. 26. Some effects in the interaction between waves in coupled systems. 27. Waves and their interaction in periodic structures -- ch. 4. Nonharmonic waves in dispersive media. 28. General solution to the initial-value problem. 29. Quasi-harmonic approximation. Group velocity. 30. Pulse spreading in equilibrium dispersive media. 31. Stationary-phase method. 32. Some problems for wave equations with a source -- ch. 5. Nonharmonic waves in nonequilibrium media. 33. Pulse propagation in nonequilibrium media. 34. Stationary-phase method for complex frequencies. 35. Quasi-harmonic approximation in the theory of interaction of electron beams with slowing-down media -- ch. 6. Theory of instabilities. 36. Convective and absolute instabilities. First criterion for the type of instability. 37. Saddle-point method. Second criterion for the type of instability. 38. Third Criterion for the type of instability. 39. Type of beam instability in the interaction with a slowed wave of zero group velocity in a medium. 40. Calculation of the Green's functions of unstable systems -- ch. 7. Hamiltonian method in the theory of electromagnetic radiation in dispersive media. 41. Equations for the excitation of transverse electromagnetic field oscillators. 42. Dipole radiation. 43. Radiation from a moving dipole - undulator radiation. 44. Cyclotron radiation. 45. Cherenkov effect. Anomalous and normal doppler effects. 46. Application of the Hamiltonian method to the problem of the excitation of longitudinal waves