Supermassive black holes have generally been recognized as the most destructive force in nature. But in recent years, they have undergone a dramatic shift in paradigm. These objects may have been critical to the formation of structure in the early universe, spawning bursts of star formation and nucleating proto-galactic condensations. Possibly half of all the radiation produced after the Big Bang may be attributed to them, whose number is now known to exceed 300 million. The most accessible among them is situated at the Center of Our Galaxy. In the following pages, we will examine the evidence that has brought us to this point, and we will understand why many expect to actually image the event horizon of the Galaxy's central black hole within this decade.

26 pages, 15 figures, to appear in "Kerr Spacetime: Rotating Black Holes in General Relativity" eds. D.L. Wiltshire, M. Visser and S.M. Scott, (Cambridge Univ. Press)