Editing Sector General (section)

==Critical appraisal==
The Sector General series defined the subgenre of multi-species medical stories,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sinclair|first=A.|date=December 12, 2000|title=To boldly go . . |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal|publisher=Canadian Medical Association|volume=163|issue=12|url=http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/12/1595|access-date=24 Nov 2009|page=1595}}</ref>
<ref name="Resnick1996WhitePapersIntro" /> although [[L. Ron Hubbard]]'s ''[[Ole Doc Methuselah]]'' stories and [[Murray Leinster]]'s Med Service stories, neither of which were highly regarded, had explored some similar themes.<ref name="Langford1983WhiteandSectorGeneral" /> Sector General was "the first explicitly [[pacifist]] [[space opera]]" series, while much of contemporary space opera from the USA was notably military.<ref name="Stableford2004HistDictJamesWhite" /> [[Mike Resnick]] described the series' characters as "the most memorable crew of aliens ever created".<ref name="Resnick1996WhitePapersIntro" /> [[Mike Ashley (writer)|Michael Ashley]] commented that the setting of the [[television series]] ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' is reminiscent of Sector General.<ref name="Ashley2005Transformations2">
{{cite book 
| title=Transformations: Volume 2 in the History of the Science Fiction Magazine, 1950–1970 | author=Michael Ashley 
| publisher=Liverpool University Press | year=2005 | isbn=0-85323-769-7 | page=[https://archive.org/details/transformationsv0000ashl/page/223 223]
| url=https://archive.org/details/transformationsv0000ashl
| url-access=registration | quote=james white science fiction. | access-date=2008-12-19 
| author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) 
}}</ref> The ''[[Babylon 5]]'' television series was also set in space station with atmospheres for different species.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.killermovies.com/g/goodmorningbabylon/reviews/ul.html|title=Good Morning Babylon Review|last=Leeper|first=M.R.|date=March 4, 1993|publisher=KillerMovies.com|access-date=24 November 2009}}</ref> It is highly likely that the short lived 1998-99 television series ''[[Mercy Point]]'' was influenced by Sector General.

Many commentators attribute the series' popularity to the altruism of its doctors and the emphasis on seeking to build peaceful relations between different species.<ref name="Westfahl2002DoctorsOrdeals">{{cite book 
| author=Gary Westfahl | chapter=Doctors' Ordeals: the Sector General Stories of James White 
| page=111 
| title=No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy
|editor1=Gary Westfahl |editor2=George Edgar Slusser
| publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| year=2002 | isbn=0-313-31707-0
| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1tdX0R_feB4C&q=%22james+white%22+%22science+fiction%22&pg=PA111 
| access-date=2008-12-18 
}}</ref> [[John Clute]] wrote that "in the depiction of goodness may lie the real genius of James White."<ref>{{Cite book 
| author=John Clute | contribution=Introduction 
| title=General Practice | publisher=[[Orb Books]] | year=2003 | isbn=0-7653-0663-8
| author-link=John Clute 
}}</ref> White's hatred of war and [[xenophobia]] is a constant theme of the series, notably in: ''[[Star Surgeon]]'', where the Monitor Corps fights a savage battle in defence of the hospital space station, to prevent the conflict from escalating into a full interstellar war that can only end in [[genocide]];<ref name="White1963StarSurgeon" /> and in ''[[The Genocidal Healer]]'', where an alien race's sexual urges are almost eliminated by a plague and can only be stimulated by hand-to-hand combat.<ref name="Langford1983WhiteandSectorGeneral" /><ref name="White1992Genocidal Healer" />

The early stories focus almost entirely on medical problems, mainly from Conway's viewpoint. In [[Dave Langford]]'s opinion the [[Astrobiology|xenobiological]] novelties were becoming less credible by the end of ''[[Star Healer]]'', and using a variety of alien viewpoint characters gave the later books "considerable new pep".<ref name="Langford1983WhiteandSectorGeneral" /> These  also deal with deeper issues, notably in ''[[The Genocidal Healer]]'', and better than most science fiction according to Resnick.<ref name="Resnick1996WhitePapersIntro">{{Cite book 
| contribution=Introduction | author=Mike Resnick
|title=The White Papers | publisher=NESFA Press | year=1996 | isbn=0-915368-71-4
| url=http://www.sectorgeneral.com/articlesresnick.html | access-date=2008-12-18 
}}</ref>

Opinions differ about the quality of the series as a whole. For example, Gary Westfahl wrote that "the Sector General stories remained consistently fresh and involving, and they grew in prominence as the series progressed."<ref name="Westfahl2002DoctorsOrdeals" /> On the other hand, Todd White wrote that the series declined after ''[[Star Healer]]'' (1985), hitting a low point with ''[[The Galactic Gourmet]]'' (1996), and that the later books tended to stretch a [[short story]]'s worth of content to the length of a [[novel]]. However he thought that ''[[Mind Changer]]'' (1998) represented an improvement.<ref>{{cite web 
| title=Mind Changer (review) | author=Todd White 
| url=http://www.sfsite.com/11b/mind45.htm | access-date=2008-12-18 
}}</ref>

''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' described ''Mind Changer'' as "White's finest performance, replete with wit, originality, medical expertise and sheer decency" and commented that the series shows no signs of aging,<ref>{{Cite news
 |newspaper  = [[Publishers Weekly]]
 |isbn = 0812541960
 |title = Mind Changer: A Sector General Novel
 |last1 = White
 |first1 = James
 |date = 15 September 1999
 }} Summarized at {{cite web | url=http://boukephalos.com/Singularity/Dec_1999.htm | access-date=2008-12-18 | title=Singularity: An Online Review of Books: December 1999 / January 2000 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708085524/http://boukephalos.com/Singularity/Dec_1999.htm | archive-date=2011-07-08 }}</ref> and [[Booklist]] described the book as an "enjoyable, witty resumé" of Chief Psychologist O'Mara's career.<ref>{{Cite news
 |newspaper  = [[Booklist]]
 |isbn = 0812541960
 |title = Mind Changer: A Sector General Novel
 |last1 = White
 |first1 = James
 |date = 15 September 1999
 }} Summarized at {{cite web | url=http://boukephalos.com/Singularity/Dec_1999.htm | access-date=2008-12-18 | title=Singularity: An Online Review of Books: December 1999 / January 2000 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708085524/http://boukephalos.com/Singularity/Dec_1999.htm | archive-date=2011-07-08 }}
</ref>

Clinton Lawrence described the last Sector General book, ''[[Double Contact]]'' (1999), as "in a very positive way, a throwback to an earlier era in science fiction" since it is optimistic and depicts several advanced species working harmoniously. The struggle to build trust and produce a successful [[First contact (science fiction)|first contact]] is, he thought, as exciting and suspenseful as one could wish for. However he noted that the level of characterization was the minimum required to support the plot.<ref name="Lawrence1999Double ContactReview">{{cite web 
| url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue137/books.html#dc | access-date=2008-12-18 
| title=Double Contact (review) | author=Clinton Lawrence | archive-date=May 16, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516075557/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue137/books.html
}}</ref>