Book excerpt: This book presents the peridynamic theory, which provides the capability for improved modeling of progressive failure in materials and structures, and paves the way for addressing multi-physics and multi-scale problems. The book provides students and researchers with a theoretical and practical knowledge of the peridynamic theory and the skills required to analyze engineering problems. The text may be used in courses such as Multi-physics and Multi-scale Analysis, Nonlocal Computational Mechanics, and Computational Damage Prediction. Sample algorithms for the solution of benchmark problems are available so that the reader can modify these algorithms, and develop their own solution algorithms for specific problems. Students and researchers will find this book an essential and invaluable reference on the topic.