Table of contents : Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Background....Pages 1-10 The Equations of Motion for Extensible Strings....Pages 11-48 Elementary Problems for Elastic Strings....Pages 49-84 Planar Equilibrium Problems for Elastic Rods....Pages 85-123 Introduction to Bifurcation Theory and its Applications to Elasticity....Pages 125-172 Global Bifurcation Problems for Strings and Rods....Pages 173-226 Variational Methods....Pages 227-257 The Special Cosserat Theory of Rods....Pages 259-324 Spatial Problems for Cosserat Rods....Pages 325-342 Axisymmetric Equilibria of Cosserat Shells....Pages 343-370 Tensors....Pages 371-383 Three-Dimensional Continuum Mechanics....Pages 385-455 Elasticity....Pages 457-530 General Theories of Rods and Shells....Pages 531-601 Nonlinear Plasticity....Pages 603-628 Dynamical Problems....Pages 629-664 Appendix. Topics in Linear Analysis....Pages 665-673 Appendix. Local Nonlinear Analysis....Pages 675-681 Appendix. Degree Theory....Pages 683-698 Back Matter....Pages 699-752