Book excerpt: A comprehensive and systematic analysis of elastic structural stability is presented in this volume. Traditional engineering buckling concepts are discussed in the framework of the Liapunov theory of stability by giving an extensive review of the Koiter approach. The perturbation method for both nonlinear algebraic and differential equations is discussed and adopted as the main tool for postbuckling analysis. The formulation of the buckling problem for the most common engineering structures - rods and frames, plates, shells, and thin-walled beams, is performed and the critical load evaluated for problems of interest. In many cases the postbuckling analysis up to the second order is presented. The use of the Ritz-Galerkin and of the finite element methods is examined as a tool for approximate bifurcation analysis. The volume will provide an up-to-date introduction for non-specialists in elastic stability theory and methods, and is intended for graduate and post-graduate students and researchers interested in nonlinear structural analysis problems. Basic prerequisites are kept to a minimum, a familiarity with elementary algebra and calculus is all that is required of readers to make use of this book.