A history of algebraic and differential topology, 1900-1960 - Jean Dieudonn

This book is a well-informed and detailed analysis of the problems and development of algebraic topology, from Poincar and Brouwer to Serre, Adams, and Thom. The author has examined each significant paper along this route and describes the steps and strategy of its proofs and its relation to other work. Previously, the history of the many technical developments of 20th-century mathematics had seemed to present insuperable obstacles to scholarship. This book demonstrates in the case of topology how these obstacles can be overcome, with enlightening results.... Within its chosen boundaries the coverage of this book is superb. Read it!

-MathSciNet