Parity Violation in Atoms and in Polarized Electron Scattering

In the last few years there has been considerable progress in improving the accuracy of parity violation experiments in electron scattering at high energy and in atomic physics. Recent results are a challenge to the standard electroweak theory and our understanding of hadron structure. This book is an extensive review of the advances in this field. The theoretical framework is presented at a pedagogical level, experiments and future projects are reviewed, and the results and their interpretation are discussed in depth.