Being the first monograph devoted to this subject, the book addresses the classification problem for semisimple Hopf algebras, a field that has attracted considerable attention in the last years. The special approach to this problem taken here is via semidirect product decompositions into Yetter-Drinfel'd Hopf algebras and group rings of cyclic groups of prime order. One of the main features of the book is a complete treatment of the structure theory for such Yetter-Drinfel'd Hopf algebras.

Introduction.- Preliminaries.- Clifford theory.- Examples.- Isomorphisms.- Constructions.- Commutative Yetter-Drinfel'd Hopf algebras.- 7.Cocommutative Yetter-Drinfel'd Hopf algebras.- Semisimple Hopf algebras of dimension p3.- Semisimple Hopf algebras of dimension pq.- Applications.- References.- Subject index.- Symbol index.