In this book, an integrated introduction to the statistical inference is provided from a frequentist likelihood-based viewpoint. Classical results are presented together with recent developments largely built upon ideas due to R.A. Fisher. After a unified review of background material (statistical methods, likelihood, data reductions, first-order asymptotics) and inference in the presence of nuisance parameters (including pseufo-likelihoods), a self-contained introduction is given to exponential families, exponential dispersion models, generalized linear models, and group families. Finally,...