Algebra is an elementary algebra text from one of the leading mathematicians of the world -- a major contribution to the teaching of the very first high school level course in a centuries old topic -- refreshed by the author's inimitable pedagogical style and deep understanding of mathematics and how it is taught and learned.

This book is about algebra.  The main part of the book is made up of problems.  The best way to deal with them is : Solve the problem by yourself - compare your solution with the solution in the book (if it exists) - go to the next problem.  However, if you have difficulties solving a problem (and some of them are difficult), you may read the hint or start to read the solution.  If there is no solution in the book for some problem, you may skip it ( it is not heavily used in the sequel) and return to it later.  

"The idea behind teaching is to expect students to learn why things are true, rather than have them memorize ways of solving a few problems, as most of our books have done. [This] same philosophy lies behind the current text by Gelfand and Shen. There are specific 'practical' problems but there is much more development of the ideas...[The authors] have shown how to write a serious yet lively look at algebra."
-- R. Askey, The American Mathematics Monthly

"Were Algebrato be used solely for supplementary reading, it could be wholeheartedly recommended to any high school student of any teacher... In fact, given the long tradition of mistreating algebra as a disjointed collection of techniques in the schools, there should be some urgency in making this book compulsory reading for anyone interested in learning mathematics."
-- H. Wu, The Mathematical Intelligencer

Above are extracts from the book Algebra and from the publisher  Birkhauser (with permission of the publishers).