Book excerpt: The Chemistry of Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium, and Francium studies the physical and chemical properties of the elements listed in the title, including their chemical compounds and reactions. This book first features lithium, including its characterization, metals, and compounds. This topic is followed by discussions on the remaining featured elements in this text, encompassing their discovery and history, occurrence and distribution, and production. Then, this text presents the chemistry and chemical properties of the elements, specifically discussing topics such as the reactions of the metals, intermetallic compounds, hydrides, halides, cyanides and cyanates, and oxides and peroxides. The last two chapters examine biological activity and analytical chemistry of the elements. This book will be valuable to students and experts in the field of chemistry, as well as those in related fields.