This book describes the memorable theoretical work that motivated the construction of the electron positron accelerators at CERN and SLAC, and the monumental experimental effort that led to a verification of the main theoretical expectations at these laboratories and at Fermilab.

The aim is to provide a description of the theoretical work, as well as a synthesis of the experimental effort, which makes interesting reading for both theorists and experimentalists. In particular, the experimental measurements, discussed in the second part of the book, are systematically related to the theoretical quantities discussed in the first. The topics still to be investigated, unsolved problems, and the perspectives at future giant accelerators conclude this fascinating text.

Contents: The Standard Model of Electroweak Interactions; Z Physics at Tree Level; Z Physics at One Loop for Final Leptonic States; Z Physics at One Loop for Final Hadronic States; Accelerators and Detectors for Z and W Physics; The Z Lineshape; Z Decays to Heavy Quarks; Asymmetries at the Z Pole; Electroweak Measurements with W Bosons; The Top Quark and Its Mass; The Search for the Higgs Boson and Tests of the Electroweak Interaction; Conclusions and Perspectives.