Alexander Grothendieck introduced many concepts into algebraic geometry; they turned out to be astoundingly powerful and productive and truly revolutionized the subject. Grothendieck sketched his new theories in a series of talks at the Seminaire Bourbaki between 1957 and 1962 and collected his write-ups in a volume entitled ``Fondements de la Geometrie Algebrique,'' known as FGA. Much of FGA is now common knowledge; however, some of FGA is less well known, and its full scope is familiar to few. The present book resulted from the 2003 ``Advanced School in Basic Algebraic Geometry'' at the ICTP in Trieste, Italy. The book aims to fill in Grothendieck's brief sketches. There are four themes: descent theory, Hilbert and Quot schemes, the formal existence theorem, and the Picard scheme. Most results are proved in full detail; furthermore, newer ideas are introduced to promote understanding, and many connections are drawn to newer developments. The main prerequisite is a thorough acquaintance with basic scheme theory. Thus this book is a valuable resource for anyone doing algebraic geometry.