The purpose of this book is to bridge this gap and provide an introduction to the general theory of Banach spaces and functional analysis. It prepares students for further study of both the classical works and current resarch. It is accessible to students who have had a course in real and complex analysis and understand the basic properties of L_p spaces. The book is sprinkled liberally with examples, historical notes, citations, and original sources. Over 450 exercises provide students with practice in the use of the results developed in the text through supplementary examples and couterexamples.
