In the world mathematical literature of our time, Van der Waerden's Modern Algebra undoubtedly occupies one of the most significant places. Its first edition, published in 1930- 1931, was the end of a brilliant period in the history of algebra, the period of its set-theoretic restructuring, primarily associated with the names of Steinitz, Artin and Emma Noether. Immediately after its publication, the book became a tabletop for algebraists around the world; she determined the character, and partly the path, of further algebraic research; young algebraists were brought up on it (and continue to be brought up).