Includes bibliographical references (p. 195196).

Introduction ; Chapter 1. The Definition and Some Basic Properties of the Algebra [\pi ] ; Chapter 2. ADecomposition of the Algebra [\pi ] when frac 12\in k ; Chapter 3. Structure of the Algebra [\pi ] for TwoGenerator Groups ; Chapter 4. Absolutely Irreducible L(2) Representations of TwoGenerator Groups ; Chapter 5. Further Identities in the Algebra [\pi ] when frac 12\in k ; Chapter 6. Structure of ^+[\pi _n] for Free Groups pi _n ; Chapter 7. Quaternion Algebra Localizations of [\pi ] and Absolutely Irreducible L(2) Representations ; Chapter 8. AlgebroGeometric Interpretation of SL(2) Representations of Groups ; Chapter 9. The Universal Matrix Representation of the Algebra [\pi ] ; Chapter 10. Some Knot Invariants Derived from the Algebra [\pi ] ; Appendix A. Addenda ; Appendix B. Afterword ; Bibliography