The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to the structure theory of higher dimensional algebraic varieties by studying the geometry of curves, especially rational curves, on varieties. The main applications are in the study of Fano varieties and of related varieties with lots of rational curves on them. This "Ergebnisse" volume provides the first systematic introduction to this field of study. The book contains a large number of examples and exercises which serve to illustrate the range of the methods and also lead to many open questions of current research.