Massey's well-known and popular text is designed to introduce advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students to algebraic topology as painlessly as possible. The principal topics treated are 2-dimensional manifolds, the fundamental group, and covering spaces, plus the group theory needed in these topics. The only prerequisites are some group theory, such as that normally contained in an undergraduate algebra course on the junior/senior level, and a one-semester undergraduate course in general topology. From the reviews: "This book is highly recommended: as a textbook for a first course in algebraic topology and as a book for selfstudy. The spirit of algebraic topology and of good mathematics is present at every page of this almost perfect book." Bulletin de la Societe Mathematique de Belgique