It appears that most nuclei show a compromise between purely collective and purely non-collective behavior at very high spins.non~collective behavior in nuclei has been seen only as high as 36 or 37{bar h}, at which point a more collective structure seems to develop. The concepts underlying the study of high angular momentum states are discussed. The factors that limit angular momentum in nuclei are considered. The currently emerging state of physics of very high spin states is reviewed. The detailed calculations currently made for high spin states are described, focusing not on the calculations themselves, but on the physical input to them and results that come out. Production of high-spin states using heavy-ion reactions is reviewed. Studies of {gamma}-rays de-exciting the evaporation residues from heavy-ion reactions are covered. Two types of {gamma} rays occur: those that cool the nucleus to or toward the yrast line, called "statistical," and those that are more or less parallel to the yrast line and remove the angular momentum, called "yrast~like." Collective rotation, in simplest form the motion of a deformed nucleus around an axis perpendicular to its symmetry axis, is also covered