This book introduces formal modeling and analysis of distributed systems by means of executable formal modeling in rewriting logic and model checking analyses in the tool Maude. The first part of the book introduces “classical” equational algebraic specification and term rewrite systems, including reasoning about confluence and termination, as well as equational logic. The second part introduces rewriting logic and deals with the executable formal modeling of distributed systems. The book develops executable formal Maude models of classic distributed systems, which are then simulated and are further analysed through reachability analysis in Maude. In particular, the book shows how Maude can be used to break the Needham-Schroeder Public Key cryptographic protocol. Finally, the book introduces (linear) temporal logic that can be used to express complex requirements that distributed systems must satisfy and it uses Maude LTL model checker to analyze whether our models satisfy desired temporal properties.