Equivariant cohomology on smooth manifolds is the subject of this book which is part of a collection of volumes edited by J. Bruning and V.W. Guillemin. The point of departure are two relatively short but very remarkable papers be Henry Cartan, published in 1950 in the Proceedings of the "Colloque de Topologie." These papers are reproduced here, together with a modern introduction to the subject, written by two of the leading experts in the field. This "introduction" comes as a textbook of its own, though, presenting the first full treatment of equivariant cohomology in the de Rahm setting....

What is the true mark of inspiration? Ideally it may mean the originality, freshness and enthusiasm of a new breakthrough in mathematical thought. The reader will feel this inspiration in all four seminal papers by Duistermaat, Guillemin and Hormander presented here for the first time ever in one volume. However, as time goes by, the price researchers have to pay is to sacrifice simplicity for the sake of a higher degree of abstraction. Thus the original idea will only be a foundation on which more and more abstract theories are being built. It is the unique feature of this book to combine...