The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks

<p> This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the <I>The Hydrogen Sonata</I> (2012) published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer the development of his politics and ethics his struggles to become a published author his eventual success with <I>The Wasp Factory</I> (1984) and the publication of the first Culture novel <I>Consider Phlebas</I> (1987). His 1994 essay A Few Notes on the Culture is included along with a range of critical responses to the 10 Culture books he published in his lifetime and a discussion of the series' status as utopian literature.</p><p> Banks was a complex man both in his everyday life and on the page. This work aims at understanding the Culture series not only as a fundamental contribution to science fiction but also as a product of its creator's responses to the turbulent times he lived in.</p>