Book excerpt: This volume contains papers selected by leading specialists in algebraic semigroups in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Australia. Many of the papers strongly influenced the development of algebraic semigroups, but most were virtually unavailable outside the U.S.S.R. Written by some of the most prominent Soviet researchers in the field, the papers have a particular emphasis on semigroups of transformations. Boris Schein of the University of Arkansas is the translator.