Representation theory of big groups is an important and quickly developing part of modern mathematics, giving rise to a variety of important applications in probability and mathematical physics. This book provides the first concise and self-contained introduction to the theory on the simplest yet very nontrivial example of the infinite symmetric group, focusing on its deep connections to probability, mathematical physics, and algebraic combinatorics. Following a discussion of the classical Thoma's theorem which describes the characters of the infinite symmetric group, the authors describe...