Nuclear photoprocesses and vector dominance

The author reviews the theoretical and experimental literature on the following topics: the optical model; rho , omega , and phi photoproduction in complex nuclei, and the determination of the V- gamma coupling constants and VN total cross-sections; leptonic decay modes of photoproduced V's; rho - omega interference; the optical characteristics of nuclei implied by vector meson dominance; total nuclear cross-sections for real and virtual photons; and nuclear photoproduction of pions. (91 refs).