Profinite Groups

The aim of this book is to serve both as an introduction to profinite groups and as a reference for specialists in some areas of the theory. In neither of these two aspects have we tried to be encyclopedic. After some necessary background, we thoroughly develop the basic properties of profinite groups and introduce the main tools of the subject in algebra, topology and homol­ ogy. Later we concentrate on some topics that we present in detail, including recent developments in those areas. Interes