Elliptic functions parametrize elliptic curves, and the intermingling of the analytic and algebraic-arithmetic theory has been at the center of mathematics since the early part of the nineteenth century. The book is divided into four parts. In the first, Lang presents the general analytic theory starting from scratch. Most of this can be read by a student with a basic knowledge of complex analysis. The next part treats complex multiplication, including a discussion of Deuring's theory of l-adic and p-adic representations, and elliptic curves with singular invariants. Part three covers curves with non-integral invariants, and applies the Tate parametrization to give Serre's results on division points. The last part covers theta functions and the Kronecker Limit Formula. Also included is an appendix by Tate on algebraic formulas in arbitrary charactistic.

Serge Lang (May 19, 1927 – September 12, 2005) was a French-born American mathematician. He is known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra. He was a member of the Bourbaki group.

Lang was born in Paris in 1927, and moved with his family to California as a teenager, where he graduated in 1943 from Beverly Hills High School. He subsequently graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1946, and received a doctorate from Princeton University in 1951. He held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Columbia University (from 1955, leaving in 1971 in a dispute). At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of mathematics at Yale University.