Book excerpt: Structural analysis, or the 'theory of structures', is an important subject for civil engineering students who are required to analyse and design structures. It is a vast field and is largely taught at the undergraduate level. A few topics, such as matrix method and plastic analysis, are also taught at the postgraduate level and in structural engineering electives. The entire course has been covered in two volumes: Structural Analysis-I and Structural Analysis-II. Structural Analysis-II not only deals with the in-depth analysis of indeterminate structures but also special topics, such as curved beams and unsymmetrical bending. The book provides an introduction to advanced methods of analysis, namely, matrix method and plastic analysis.