This book provides an introduction to the foundations and recent developments in commutative algebra. A look at the contents of the first five chapters shows that the topics covered are those usually found in any textbook on commutative algebra. However, this book differs significantly from most commutative algebra textbooks: namely in its treatment of the Dedekind - Mertens formula, the (small) finitistic dimension of a ring, Gorenstein rings, valuation overrings, the valuative dimension, and the Nagata rings.