M-Ideals in Banach Spaces and Banach Algebras

This book provides a comprehensive exposition of M-ideal
theory, a branch ofgeometric functional analysis which
deals with certain subspaces of Banach spaces arising
naturally in many contexts. Starting from the basic
definitions the authors discuss a number of examples of
M-ideals (e.g. the closed two-sided ideals of C*-algebras)
and develop their general theory. Besides, applications to
problems from a variety of areas including approximation
theory, harmonic analysis, C*-algebra theory and Banach
space geometry are presented.
The book is mainly intended as a reference volume for
researchers working in one of these fields, but it also
addresses students at the graduate or postgraduate level.
Each of its six chapters is accompanied by a
Notes-and-Remarks section which explores further
ramifications of the subject and gives detailed references
to the literature. An extensive bibliography is included.