The concept of symmetric space is of central importance in many branches
of mathematics. Compactifications of these spaces have been studied from
the points of view of representation theory, geometry, and random walks.
This work is devoted to the study of the interrelationships among these
various compactifications and, in particular, focuses on the martin
compactifications. It is the first exposition to treat compactifications
of symmetric spaces systematically and to uniformized the various points
of view. The work is largely self-contained, with comprehensive
references to the literature. It is an excellent resource for both
researchers and graduate students.