This book provides a guide to a rich and fascinating subject: algebraic curves and how they vary in families. The aim has been to provide a broad but compact overview of the field which will be accessible to readers with a modest background in algebraic geometry. With over 180 exercises and 70 figures.

Inhalt
Parameter spaces: Constructions and examples.- Basic facts about moduli spaces of curves.- Techniques.- Construction of $$ \overline M _g $$ .- Limit Linear Series and Brill-Noether theory.- Geometry of moduli spaces: Selected results.