Smooth unimodal maps in the 1990s

The purpose of this paper is to survey the key ideas which have played a ro le in the development of the theory of smooth unimodal maps in the 1990s so as to provide a starting point for more detailed study. Most papers underl ying this survey are distinguished by great technical complexity; we have t herefore attempted to extract their essence and present it in a way accessi ble to a non-specialist. For further study we compiled a long list of origi nal references. Another goal of this paper is to present the multi-directio nal process in which ideas flowed and developed, placed in a historical ord er.