String/Gauge Duality: (re)discovering the QCD String in AdS Space

These lectures trace the origin of string theory as a theory of hadronic interactions (predating QCD itself) to the present ideas on how the QCD string may arise in Superstring theory in a suitably deformed background metric. The contributions of 'tHooft's large Nc limit, Maldacena's String/Gauge duality conjecture and lattice spectral data are emphasized to motivate and hopefully guide further efforts to define a fundamental QCD string.