Concept
Moderne Algebra is a two-volume German textbook on graduate abstract algebra by , originally based on lectures given by Emil Artin in 1926 and by from 1924 to 1928. The English translation of 1949–1950 had the title Modern algebra, though a later, extensively revised edition in 1970 had the title Algebra. The book was one of the first textbooks to use an abstract axiomatic approach to groups, rings, and fields, and was by far the most successful, becoming the standard reference for graduate algebra for several decades. It "had a tremendous impact, and is widely considered to be the major text on algebra in the twentieth century." In 1975 van der Waerden described the sources he drew upon to write the book. In 1997 Saunders Mac Lane recollected the book's influence: Upon its publication it was soon clear that this was the way that algebra should be presented. Its simple but austere style set the pattern for mathematical texts in other subjects, from Banach algebras to topological group theory. [Van der Waerden's] two volumes on modern algebra ... dramatically changed the way algebra is now taught by providing a decisive example of a clear and perspicacious presentation. It is, in my view, the most influential text of algebra of the twentieth century. Moderne Algebra has a rather confusing publication history, because it went through many different editions, several of which were extensively rewritten with chapters and major topics added, deleted, or rearranged. In addition the new editions of first and second volumes were issued almost independently and at different times, and the numbering of the English editions does not correspond to the numbering of the German editions. In 1955 the title was changed from "Moderne Algebra" to "Algebra" following a suggestion of Brandt, with the result that the two volumes of the third German edition do not even have the same title. For volume 1, the first German edition was published in 1930, the second in 1937 (with the axiom of choice removed), the third in 1951 (with the axiom of choice reinstated, and with more on valuations).
