Supermassive black holes and galaxy morphology

This review addresses one of the important topics of current astrophysical research, namely the role that supermassive black holes play in shaping the morphology of their host galaxies. There is increasing evidence for the pr esence of massive black holes at the centers of all galaxies and many effor ts are directed at understanding the processes that lead to their formation , the duty cycle for the active phase and the question of the fueling mecha nism. Related issues are the epoch of formation of the supermassive black h oles, their time evolution and growth and the role they play in the early i onization of the Universe. Considerable observational and theoretical work has been carried out in this field over the last few years and I will revie w some of the recent key areas of progress.