A Gift from the Culture
"A Gift from the Culture", published in 1987, is a short work of space opera, by the Scottish science fiction author Iain M. Banks. The story is an early venture into the "complex and unusual and very distant" setting of the Culture, which Banks would further develop through various of full length novels, stories, and his essay "A Few Notes on the Culture".
Irving Kristol
Kristol was affiliated with the Congress for Cultural Freedom. He wrote in "Commentary" magazine from 1947 to 1952 under the editor Elliot Cohen (not to be confused with Elliot A. Cohen, the writer of today's magazine); was (with Stephen Spender) co-founder of and contributor to the British-based "Encounter" from 1953 to 1958; editor of "The Reporter" from 1959 to 1960; executive vice-president of the publishing house Basic Books from 1961 to 1969; Henry Luce Professor of Urban Values at New York University from 1969 to 1987; and co-founder and co-editor (first with Daniel Bell and then Nathan Glazer) of "The Public Interest" from 1965 to 2002. He was the founder and publisher of "The National Interest" from 1985 to 2002. Following "Ramparts"' publication of information showing Central Intelligence Agency funding of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, which was widely reported elsewhere, Kristol left in the late 1960s and became affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute.