A new approach to conveying abstract algebra, the area that studies algebraic structures, such as groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, and algebras, that is essential to various scientific disciplines such as particle physics and cryptology. It provides a well written account of the theoretical foundations; also contains topics that cannot be found elsewhere, and also offers a chapter on cryptography. End of chapter problems help readers with accessing the subjects. This work is co-published with the Heldermann Verlag, and within Heldermann's Sigma Series in Mathematics.