A survey, thorough and timely, of the singularities of two-dimensional normal complex analytic varieties, the volume summarizes the results obtained since Hirzebruch''s thesis (1953) and presents new contributions. First, the singularity is resolved and shown to be classified by its resolution; then, resolutions are classed by the use of spaces with nilpotents; finally, the spaces with nilpotents are determined by means of the local ring structure of the singularity.