In the following years steroid research accelerated at an almost feverish pace as the utility of some of these compounds as hormonal and pharmacological agents was recognized and implemented in clinical practice. These studies led not only to a better understanding of the mechanistic and stereochemical factors involved in the reaction, but also often afforded milder and more selective experimental conditions. However, from a practical viewpoint much of this large body of knowledge is buried in the steroid literature, and is unfortunately only rarely consulted by the nonsteroid chemist who may be seeking to carry out similar transformations with other classes of compounds. It is the purpose of this book to afford a critical review covering both theoretical and experimental aspects of some of the most important and synthetically useful transformations in steroid chemistry.