Abstract :
The study of the giant dipole resonance (GDR) built on highly excited states continues to be a useful tool to explore basic nuclear properties at finite temperatures and angular momenta. More and more exclusive measurements gating on, for example, evaporation residues, angular momenta or discrete low energy γ-ray transitions are able to study the behavior of the GDR in much more detail than previously possible. The dependence of the GDR width as a function of temperatures and angular momentum continues to be a topic of discussion. In the future, second generation rare isotope facilities together with high efficiency arrays should make the study of the GDR in hot exotic nuclei feasible.