The concept of this book - an integrated and comprehensive cov erage of all aspects of Raman spectroscopy by a group of specialist- took form nearly three years ago. It made a giant stride toward realiza tion when Dr. L. Woodward, whose outstanding work in this field had long been known to me, agreed to write an introductory chapter and made valuable suggestions concerning others who might be invited to contribute articles. However, many obstacles had to be overcome before this book finally became a reality. It is extremely difficult to prepare a multi author review of the state of knowledge...