J Natl Med Assoc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Apr 22.
Published in final edited form as:
NIHMSID: NIHMS564683
The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at J Natl Med Assoc
In 1968, H. Richard Hornberger, former army surgeon, writing under the pseudonym Richard Hooker, published the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, based on his experiences as a military surgeon and a captain in the 8055th Mobile Army Surgery Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War.1,2 His popular account of the fictional 4077th MASH gave rise to an Academy Award–winning film in 1970 (Best Adapted Screenplay plus 4 additional nominations) and subsequently to the popular and long-running television series M*A*S*H.3,4 The character Oliver Wendell “Spearchucker” Jones, a neurosurgeon, who was first introduced in the novel, was subsequently written out of the series (“Germ Warfare,” the 11th episode of season 1) by the sitcom’s creator in an attempt to maintain historical accuracy based upon the long-held view that no black surgeons served during the Korean War.5 The accomplishments of African American military medical personnel generally went unheralded in the initial period following desegregation of the US Armed Forces. The lack of participation of black surgeons in the Korean War is a misrepresentation that has been deleted from history and inaccurately chronicled in popular culture.5
President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948, permanently ending racial segregation in the US Armed Forces. It was the most significant development in America’s battle over race in the military since the Reconstruction’s Civil Rights amendments.6 In spite of General MacArthur’s recalcitrance in integrating the fighting forces during the Korean War, his replacement, General Matthew Ridgway, in April 1951, for morale purposes wished to desegregate the forces under his Far East command. Ridgway, who declared segregation as a whole to be “un-American and un-Christian,” acted swiftly and decisively to finally end the segregation debate.6 Training was the first element to be integrated. A young Negro captain by the name of Alvin Vincent Blount Jr (Figure), now age 89 years, recalls that “he was the first black boy to serve in an integrated MASH unit (April 15, 2011, phone interview).”
Alvin V. Blount Jr, MD
Source: Evans-Blount Community Health Center
The MASH was a new organization announced on August 23, 1945, at the very end of World War II.7 The MASH unit was designed to be fully mobile in that the full hospital could be broken down and loaded into trucks along with hospital staff. The setup of the hospital was to be quick and to allow for the receipt of wounded soldiers within hours of re-expansion, and was usually located within 20 minutes of the front lines. Early in the war, there was a severe shortage of personnel to staff the MASH units even after the military stripped other medical department units and reassigned them to MASH units.7 The residency programs in the army hospital system were then tapped to provide partially trained specialists on temporary duty. The doctor shortage was eased by the draft of 1950. These physicians had only recently completed their medical training and had begun busy civilian practices.8 In 1951, the 8225th MASH unit was deployed, and an additional unit was organized by the Norwegians and sent to Uijeongbu, Korea, the same year.8 Captain Blount, after serving 3 years prior in the army, was now one of the new medical graduates called to active duty after completing his surgical internship in 1954. Blount’s arrival to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to meet his commanding officer, Lt. Col Robert Newell, would not only prepare him for his activation to Korea, putting him in harm’s way, but to eventually serve as the first Negro chief of surgery in a MASH unit.
Dr Blount was born on February 24, 1922, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He entered North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro in 1939 (1939–1943) and distinguished himself by graduating with honors and by serving as student body president and chairman of the campus newspaper. He obtained his medical degree from Howard University, Washington, DC (1944–1947), where he studied under the famous Dr Charles Drew. Dr Blount spent 5 years on active duty; 3 years were prior to his completion of medical school. His second call to military duty was as a member of the US Army Medical Corps, and resulted in his mobilization overseas to Korea. The mobilization to Korea occurred as he had just completed his internship and surgical residency at Kate B. Reynolds Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was mobilized with the 8225th from Fort Bragg, the second MASH9 to be sent to Korea in 1952.
Dr Blount recalls that the location of his MASH unit was 10 miles from the 38th parallel, the strip of land dividing North Korea and South Korea that was crossed by the North Korean People’s Army attacking the Republic of South Korea, prompting US intervention in the Korean War.10 The MASH was intended to bring emergency lifesaving surgery closer to critically wounded causalities in a forward location just out of reach of the enemy artillery range, in support of each division, similar to the combat support hospitals in current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 8225th MASH unit was mobilized to support the 1st Cavalry Division (Fort Hood, Texas), the 2nd Infantry Division, partially made of KATUSAs (Korean Augmentation to US Army), the 24th Infantry Division (Fort Riley, Kansas), and the 25th Infantry Division (Wahiawa, Hawaii). Proximity to the battlefield meant that mortar rounds were felt nearly every night and the number of wounded seen during Dr Blount’s 2-year tour meant up to 3 sleepless nights at a time to care for civilian and military causalities. The MASH unit operated with 4 surgical tables but was optimally staffed to run 2 tables at the same time. However, during the arrivals of mass casualties, all 4 tables were utilized simultaneously, with surgeons and the 2 anesthetists rotating to complete resuscitations and operations. During his tour in Korea, Dr Blount’s team performed 90 major and minor surgeries a week. Field surgery techniques were often utilized, such as multiple debridement’s for soft-tissue wounds, and temporary abdominal closures for penetrating abdominal wounds. Head and neck injuries were scarce, and penetrating carotid injuries were even more remote. However, thoracic injuries were not uncommon, and Dr Blount recalls successfully managing a thoracic injury penetrating the pericardium. His most vivid and macabre memory was of treating allied soldiers with penile mutilations inflicted by the People’s Republic Army that required urologic procedures in this austere environment. The total number of admissions for the 8225th during its deployment was 1936, with only 11 deaths reported, giving the staff a survival rate11 of 99.4%. At one point during Dr Blount’s tour, the chief of surgery became ill and was incapacitated for 6 weeks. In his absence, Lt Col Robert Newell named Dr Blount Jr chief of surgery of the 8225th. Dr Blount received the Incident Participation medal (later known as the Korean War Service medal) for his meritorious service as a field surgeon in Korea.
Dr Blount returned to the Jim Crow South in 1954, making his home in Greensboro, North Carolina. Deciding to settle in the Jim Crow South was a painful choice that an increasing number of black doctors refused to make as the 20th century progressed.12 Dr Charles Drew told Dr Blount and others: “You boys going south will have to sweat it out, but victory will come.”13 Negro surgeons were excluded from local and state medical societies, given limited or no privileges in public hospitals and were virtually prohibited from treating white patients. The extremely polite and amicable Dr Blount, whose skill and knowledge lead to his becoming the chief of surgery for an integrated US Army hospital in southeast Asia, would have to fight his way into the operating room at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. Since opening in 1953, Cone had treated black patients, but only those who had white physicians. Black medical professionals had to work mainly at L. Richardson Memorial Hospital, which was primitive compared to the segregated Cone Hospital and Wesley Long Hospital. Cone Hospital required doctors to belong to the Guilford County Medical Society, which did not give black doctors full membership, thus allowing the hospital the legal right to ignore the war veteran’s medical credentials.13,14
In 1962, Dr George Simkins, a fiery black dentist whose temperament was the opposite of Dr Blount’s, enlisted himself, Dr Blount; Walter J. Hughes, MD; Earl Davis, MD; E.C. Noel, MD; G. Alexander, MD; N.N. Jones, MD; W.L.T. Miller, DDS; and Milton Barnes, DDS, to join him in suing Cone and Wesley Long. Simkins v Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital (1963) challenged the federal government’s use of public funds to expand and maintain segregated hospital care.13,15 The federal government agreed that the use of federal funds in a discriminatory manner was unconstitutional and that these professionals and patients should be granted the privileges and services they sought.15 Subsequent to the integration of Cone Hospital in 1964, Dr Blount became the first African American to operate at Cone.13 The significance of Simkins v Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital is demonstrated by the US Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit references to this decision in nearly every hospital discrimination case (>260) that followed for the next 2 decades.15 Dr Blount, who is the only remaining litigant alive, still maintains his privileges, as the plaintiffs had quietly agreed that none of their privileges would lapse as long as they were still practicing dentistry or medicine.
Dr Blount’s distinguished surgical career includes service as chief of surgery for L. Richardson Hospital for 23 years. He was responsible for establishing the hospital’s first quality improvement committee when he recognized that too many hysterectomies were being performed without proper indications. When questioned about helping integrate Greensboro’s hospital system, Blount said, “When I see black doctors and nurses at the 2 hospitals, I say to myself, ‘this is how it should be.’ We are offering full health care to everyone.”13 Historian Toni Colley-Lee, the daughter of an attorney who shared the same office building with Dr Blount, recalls, “You could pull up into the parking lot and see people sitting on trucks and cars and in line to see him. If you asked a couple why they were there, they’d say ‘to see the MASH doctor they say is so good.’” (T. Colley-Lee, personal communication, April 26, 2011).
Dr Blount is not only a decorated military surgeon; he is also recognized as an outstanding physician in the Greensboro medical community. He is the recipient of the Legacy Award from the Old North State Medical Society (North Carolina’s chapter of the National Medical Association) and has been given the highest honor that can be granted to a civilian by the governor of North Carolina, The Order of the Long-Leaf Pine.13 Although he retired from a full surgical practice in 1994, he continues to see patients and maintains an office in the Greensboro community providing medical services, such as primary care, physical exams, minor surgeries, and monitoring of chronic health conditions. Dr Blount served as the former medical director for the Guilford Health Care Center and is an executive committee member of Kindred Hospital (formerly L. Richardson Hospital). In recognition of Dr Blount and a fellow civil rights pioneer, George Harrison Evans, MD, a medical office facility on Martin Luther King Dr in Greensboro, the Evans-Blount Community Health Center, bears their names.
The authors, who are aware of the contributions of African Americans in armed US conflicts, found it difficult to believe that the deletion of “Spearchucker” Jones from the popular series MASH parallels a lack of participation of African American combat surgeons in the Korean War to be true. The evidence demonstrates that Dr Blount not only served proudly during the Korean War but that he was indeed the first black chief of surgery of an integrated MASH unit. As all accounts of valor of black soldiers have not been told, we recognize that our search for African American surgeons serving in the Korean War by no means eliminates the possibility that other names will emerge. It is indeed the authors’ sincere hope that this spawns a new interest in correcting a chapter in our history of failing to recognize the contributions of any African Americans mobilized in defense of this great nation. We hope that stories of other African American Korean War surgeons emerge before the last members of the “greatest generation” move into the sunset.
References
1. Mifflin L, Richard Hornberger H. Surgeon Behind ‘M*A*S*H’. Vol. 73. The New York Times; Nov 7, 1997. [Google Scholar]
2. Kich M. H. Richard Hornberger. [Accessed May 6, 2011];The Literary Encyclopedia. 2006 Feb 10;www.litencyc.com.
3. The M*A*S*H finale was noted to be the most-watched episode in television history, with 105.97 million viewers, only surpassed by the 2010 Super Bowl. Los Angeles, CA: Associated Press; Mar 3, 1983. [Google Scholar]
4. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Nominations included Best Picture, Directing, Actress in a Supporting Role and Directing.
5. Wittebols J. Watching M*A*S*H, Watching America: A Social History of the 1972–1983 TV Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co; 1998. pp. 11–22. [Google Scholar]
6. Wright K. Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African-Americans in the Armed Forces. North Adams, MA: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; 2002. pp. 195–224. [Google Scholar]
7. [Accessed May 5, 2011];8076th MASH History. http://the45thsurg.freeservers.com/8076th_MASH.html.
8. McCallum JE. Military Medicine: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO; 2008. Military Army Surgical Hospitals in the Korean Conflict; pp. 210–213. [Google Scholar]
9. [Accessed May 6, 2011];Namesakes of Evans-Blount. 2010 Nov 22;www.evans-blounthealth.com/namesakes.html.
10. First proposed in 1895, as a means of separating Korea into Russian and Japanese spheres of influence, the line of latitude at 38° north, also referred to as the 38th Parallel, divides the Korean Peninsula into roughly equal northern and southern halves. The Korean War started on June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea at this political border Don Oberdorfer. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. 1997[Google Scholar]
11. Reister F. Battle Casualties and Medical Statistics: US Army Experience in the Korean War. Location: Surgeon General, Department of the Army; 1973. Hospitalization in Korea; pp. 55–69. [Google Scholar]
12. Ward TJ. Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South. Fayetteville, NC: University of Arkansas Press; 2003. Aid and Integration; pp. 31–59. [Google Scholar]
13. Oberdorfer D. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. 1997. Korea at this political border. [Google Scholar]
14. Schlosser J. Greensboro News Record.com. Feb 24, 2007. Doctor Waged Quiet Battle. [Google Scholar]
15. McLaughlin N. Ordinary Heroes. 2009 Feb 22;http://gotriad.news-record.com/content/2009/02/21/article/ordinary_heroes.Reynolds P. Professional and Hospital Discrimination and the US Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit 1956–1967. Am J Public Health. 2004;94:710–720.[PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Author | Richard Hooker |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | M*A*S*H |
Genre | War, Comedy, Drama |
Publisher | William Morrow |
Publication date | 1968 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 211 pp |
ISBN | 978-0-688-02061-3 |
Followed by | M*A*S*H Goes to Maine |
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors is a 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (the pen name for former military surgeon Dr. H. Richard Hornberger and writer W. C. Heinz[1]) which is notable as the inspiration for the feature film MASH (1970) and TV series M*A*S*H. The novel is about a fictional U.S.Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea during the Korean War.
Hooker followed the novel with two sequels. Additionally, a series of sequels of rather different and lighter tone were credited to Hooker and William E. Butterworth, but actually written by Butterworth alone.
Background[edit]
Hornberger was born in 1924 and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.[2] After graduating from Cornell University Medical School, he was drafted into the Korean War and assigned to the 8055 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H. or MASH).
M.A.S.H. units, according to one doctor assigned to the unit, 'weren't on the front lines, but they were close. They lived and worked in tents. It was hot in the summer and colder than cold in the winter.'[3] The operating room consisted of stretchers balanced on carpenter's sawhorses.[4]
Many of the M.A.S.H. doctors were in their 20s, many with little advanced surgical training.[5] During battle campaigns, units could see 'as many as 1,000 casualties a day'.
'What characterized the fighting in Korea', one of Hornberger's fellow officers recalled, 'was that you would have a period of a week or 10 days when nothing much was happening, then there would be a push. When you had a push, there would suddenly be a mass of casualties that would just overwhelm us.'[4]
There were, another surgeon recalled, 'long periods when not much of anything happened' in an atmosphere of apparent safety—plenty of time to play .. When things were quiet we would sit around and read. Sometimes the nurses would have a little dance.'[5]
A colleague described Hornberger as 'a very good surgeon with a tremendous sense of humor.' Although Hornberger did label his tent 'The Swamp,' he was politically conservative.[6]
Hornberger's later assessment of his unit's behavior was: 'A few flipped their lids, but most just raised hell in a variety of ways and degrees.'[7]
After the war ended, Hornberger worked in a VA hospital before returning to Maine to establish a surgical practice in Waterville.[8] In 1956, he began attempting to put his memories into a book.[9]
In the 1960s, a visit with a former M.A.S.H. colleague and his wife—a nurse at the unit—led to a session of drinking and storytelling.[4] Hornberger later claimed the evening gave him new motivation to finish his manuscript.
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A chance event brought Hornberger and Heinz together. 'A doctor named J. Maxwell Chamberlain helped me write my novel The Surgeon and, previous to that, a Life cover piece about a lung operation,' Heinz told American Heritage magazine.[10] Hornberger, who had studied under Chamberlain, sent Heinz a letter suggesting that they collaborate. After Heinz's wife read the manuscript and enjoyed it, he agreed to contribute: 'I cleaned it up, since it was full of those jokes that doctors like to make about the body. Then it took quite a while, maybe a year, back and forth. I eventually tied everything together. As much as it got tied together; there isn't a hell of a story line in MASH, just a succession of operations and techniques and humor. The only thing that holds it together is the characters and the familiarity that the reader comes to have with them.'
Plot[edit]
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, requests two new surgeons for his unit. Captains Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce share a jeep to the post, discovering that they share a taste for alcohol and similar views about many issues. Blake assigns them to the night shift, billeting them with Major Jonathan Hobson, a Midwestern preacher and surgeon.
Despite their dislike of authority and penchant for making wisecracks and pulling pranks, the new doctors exhibit exceptional surgical skills and commitment to their job, gaining the respect of their colleagues. They become annoyed by Maj. Hobson's religious fervor and insist that Blake have Maj. Hobson rebilleted. Friction mounts between the major and the new captains; when Major Hobson's prayers begin to annoy everyone, Col. Blake arranges to have him sent stateside.
Pierce and Forrest also request a chest surgeon for the unit. When the new man, Captain John McIntyre, arrives, he displays exceptional skill, but resists their attempts to draw him into their social circle. During a recreational football game, Hawkeye suddenly remembers playing football against McIntyre in college and introduces McIntyre to everyone as Trapper John.
The Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) tent occupied by the three surgeons, known as The Swamp, becomes a central gathering point. The surgeons enjoy the company of Father Mulcahy, the Catholicchaplain, although they are not strongly religious, but Duke (an avowed Protestant), wants to seek out a Protestant chaplain. A chaplain is found, but the 'Swampmen' object to his habit of ghostwriting cheerful letters for soldiers without checking the seriousness of their wounds. After a patient dies the day after a letter saying 'Everything is fine and I'll be home soon', the Swampmen lash him to a wooden cross and make him believe they intend to burn him alive.
Captain Waldowski is prone to regular fits of depression. When he announces his decision to commit suicide, the Swampmen stage a 'Last Supper', summon everyone to bid him farewell and then give him a sedative. While he is sedated, they hook him to a harness and drop him from a helicopter, ending the depression.
The Swampmen have frequent conflicts with Captain Frank Burns. Burns, even though he has never had surgical training, nonetheless considers his work infallible, and holds himself above the Swampmen. After one of his patients dies, he angrily blames an orderly. First Duke and then Trapper get into a fistfight with Burns.
When the new Chief Nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan arrives, she considers the well-groomed and courtly Burns to be the superior doctor. After Henry Blake names Trapper John as his Chief Surgeon (based on demonstrated ability), Burns and Houlihan get drunk and stay late in her tent, preparing a highly negative report for Gen. Hammond. The next day the Swampmen tease Burns and Houlihan. Trapper John calls Houlihan 'Hot Lips'; Hawkeye provokes Burns into a fight. Henry is finally forced to send Burns stateside.
Ho-Jon, the Koreanhouseboy working in the Swamp, is drafted into the South Korean army. After being wounded, he arrives at the 4077th for treatment. After rehabilitation, he resumes his position as Swampboy and the Swampmen decide to send him to Hawkeye's old college. To raise funds, Trapper poses as Jesus Christ, selling autographed photos and making personal appearances.
A U.S. Congressman whose son is wounded in combat demands that Trapper and Hawkeye fly to Japan to perform an 'emergency surgery.' The surgery proves to be routine and the doctors spend much of the recovery period playing golf. Hawkeye reconnects with a friend, 'Me Lay' Marston, who serves as an anesthesiologist for the Army but also helps a local doctor run a combination pediatric hospital and whorehouse. Me Lay asks the boys to look at a sick baby, who does require emergency surgery. Hawkeye and Trapper blackmail the hospital's commanding officer into permitting the operation and talk Me Lay into adopting the orphan baby.
Trapper and Hawkeye return to find the 4077th overwhelmed by casualties. A continuous flow of wounded pours into the hospital for two weeks. All personnel work around the clock performing operations. Everyone becomes exhausted and irritable; the Swampmen begin harassing Maj. Houlihan. She complains to Gen. Hammond, who begins an investigation of Col. Blake's conduct. The Swampmen intercede, smoothing matters over with the General.
Summer arrives and Col. Blake is sent to Tokyo for three weeks, Colonel DeLong fills in. Col. DeLong is unfamiliar with the type of high-volume, high-speed surgery used at the 4077th; after an angry confrontation with Hawkeye, DeLong gains respect for the work. Eventually the Swampmen get bored and decide to convince DeLong they need psychiatric evaluation. When he sends them to a diagnostic unit, they escape custody and visit a brothel.
General Hammond's unit has a football team. Because he has stocked it with professional players who were drafted, he makes a tidy profit playing other units and betting on the results. The Swampmen organize their own team and tell Col. Blake to ask Hammond to assign neurosurgeon Oliver Wendell Jones to the 4077. Jones, unbeknownst to Hammond, is a former star known as Spearchucker.
In the game, the Swampmen incapacitate one of Hammond's pros by injecting him with a sedative during a pileup. They use Corporal Radar O'Reilly's ESP abilities to detect upcoming plays and employ a trick play to win the game 28-24 and make an enormous profit.
As Duke and Hawkeye wait for their deployments to expire, they become bored. To keep them busy, Henry Blake has them teach two new doctors their short-cuts. One learns capably, but the other needs to be sent home. On the journey back from Korea, they feign battle fatigue to get favorable treatment and impersonate chaplains to avoid work. They say goodbye when they reach the US; each rejoins his family.
Characters[edit]
- Corporal 'Radar' O'Reilly – from Ottumwa, Iowa, given his nickname for his extremely acute hearing and apparent extra-sensory perception, inspired by real-life company clerk Don Shafer who served alongside Hornberger in Korea[11]
- Brigadier General Hamilton Hartington Hammond – stationed in Seoul
- Lieutenant Colonel Henry Braymore Blake – Commanding Officer, florid, balding, stutters when angry, from Illinois
- Captain Walter Koskiusko 'The Painless Pole' Waldowski – from Hamtramck, Michigan, Dental Officer
- Captain Augustus Bedford 'Duke' Forrest – from Forrest City, Georgia, age 29, under 6 feet tall, red hair, blue eyes, married with two daughters
- Captain Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce – from Crabapple Cove, Maine, age 28, over 6 feet tall, brown-blond hair, wears glasses, married with two sons, six brothers
- Major Jonathan Hobson – age 35, general practitioner from the Midwest, committed Protestant preacher, extremely unskilled as a surgeon
- Captain 'Trapper' John Francis Xavier McIntyre – from Boston, Massachusetts, Chief Surgeon, very skilled at thoracic surgery
- Captain 'Ugly' John Black – chief anesthesiologist, limpid-eyed, dark-haired, handsome
- Father John Patrick 'Dago Red' Mulcahy – from San Diego, California, Catholic chaplain, red hair
- 'Shaking' Sammy – Protestant chaplain from nearby engineering unit, loves to shake hands, tends to send letters to the families of fatally wounded soldiers saying all is well
- Sergeant 'Mother Divine' – from Brooklyn, New York, mess tent cook, sells fake deeds to public landmarks to gullible soldiers
- Captain Frank Burns – from Fort Wayne, Indiana, born to affluence, accustomed to authority, adept at cardiac massage, but inept at everything else
- Private Lorenzo Boone – age 19, bumbling medical assistant
- Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan – Chief Nurse, Regular Army, blondish, fortyish
- Ho-Jon – from Seoul, age 17, houseboy and medical assistant, tall, thin, bright, Christian
- Dr. James Lodge – from Crabapple Cove, Maine, Dean of Androscoggin College
- Benjamin Franklin 'Big Benjy' Pierce, Sr. – from Crabapple Cove, Maine, lobster fisherman, Hawkeye's father
- Colonel Ruxton P. Merrill – Commanding Officer, 25th Station Hospital, Kokura, Japan, an unimaginative martinet
- Captain Ezekiel Bradbury 'Me Lay' Marston IV – from Spruce Harbor, Maine, anesthesiologist, Hawkeye's childhood friend
- Colonel Cornwall – British officer
- Captain Bridget 'Knocko' McCarthy – nurse from Boston, Massachusetts, age 35, 5'8'
- Sergeant Pete Rizzo – medical assistant, athletic
- Dr. R. C. 'Jeeter' Carroll – from Oklahoma, surgeon, not very intelligent, 5'8', 150 lbs.
- Roger 'the Dodger' Danforth – surgeon, 6073rd MASH, trained with Ugly John
- Colonel Horace DeLong – visiting officer, surgeon
- Lieutenant Rafael Rodriguez – medic, Colonel Blake's secretary
- Major Haskell – Chief of Psychiatry, 325th Evac
- Sergeant Vollmer – from Nebraska, Supply sergeant
- Captain Oliver Wendell 'Spearchucker' Jones – from New Jersey, neurosurgeon, played football for the Philadelphia Eagles, also threw javelin as a track athlete
- Captain Emerson Pinkham – surgeon, Ivy League, book-smart but somewhat dense, has a wife who goes insane and is sent to an asylum
- Captain Leverett Russell – surgeon, Ivy League, book-smart but somewhat dense
Copies[edit]
A typescript copy of MASH, with copyedit corrections and editor's annotations, is held in the Special Collections and Archives holdings of Bowdoin College, Hooker's alma mater.[12] This is referenced in a tongue-in-cheek manner in Hooker's later work M*A*S*H Mania (1977) when it is stated that, 'In addition to the original manuscript of MASH by Richard Hooker, the works of Mr. Longfellow, a nineteenth-century poet and writer, are on display in the fictitious Androscoggin College Library'.[13] (Androscoggin is the alma mater of Hawkeye Pierce.)
References[edit]
- ^Goldstein, Richard (February 28, 2008). 'W. C. Heinz, 93, Writing Craftsman, Dies'. The New York Times.
- ^Mifflin, Lawrie (November 7, 1997). 'H. Richard Hornberger, 73, Surgeon Behind 'M*A*S*H''. The New York Times.
- ^'Obituary - Hickey was one of real-life inspirations for M*A*S*H''. jsonline.com.
- ^ abc'Rowdy medical unit inspired 'M*A*S*H''. The Courier-Journal.
- ^ abBuckley, Sarah (July 24, 2003). 'Korea's real M*A*S*H doctors'. BBC News.
- ^'MASH Doctor In Korea Recalls 'Cost Of War''. Hartford Courant<. November 11, 2010.
- ^Martin, Douglas (December 24, 1999). 'John Lyday, 78, Real-Life Trapper John, Dies'. The New York Times.
- ^'A Maine Writer: Maine State Library'. Maine.gov.
- ^'Richard Hornberger'. Variety. November 19, 1997.
- ^'W.C. Heinz, Helped Write MASH, Dies at 93'. MASH4077TV.com.
- ^Burhman, Matt (November 2009). Radar O'Reilly of 'M*A*S*H'.
- ^Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin Libraries.
- ^Hooker. M*A*S*H Mania. p. 30.
External links[edit]
- Kuhne, Edward. 'Book To Film: M*A*S*H'. What Culture. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- 'MASH Units'. Olive-Drab.
- Rabiroff, Jon (August 29, 2009). ''M*A*S*H' legacy lives on in Korea-based unit'. Stars & Stripes. South Korea.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MASH:_A_Novel_About_Three_Army_Doctors&oldid=886423258'
Forward. Most of the doctors who worked in Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals during the Korean War were very young, perhaps too young, to be doing what they. 17 Mar Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John , Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O’Reilly, and the rest. MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, the original novel that inspired the film MASH and TV series M*A*S*H, was written by Richard Hooker, himself a.
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I always loved their dedication and most of all, their sense of humor i How time flies by Hooker’s masterpiece, an eight-volume set called Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, recounts the strife involving the admonition controversy, a doctrine calling for radical reforms in the Church of England. On the journey back from Korea, they feign battle fatigue to get favorable treatment and impersonate chaplains to avoid work.
Abojt all 3 comments. When the Swampmen get bored, thre get away for a mash a novel about three army doctors days they lead DeLong to believe they need psychiatric evaluation.
M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors
They devise a plan to get the running back out of the game, and wear the two tackles out as early as possible. I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I did the first time- but it still ranks as a great piece of military humor. An episode late in the novel in which Hawkeye and Duke don women’s clothes to avoid inspection duty eventually was morphed into the character of cross-dressing Mash a novel about three army doctors Klinger in the TV show.
DeLong is unfamiliar with the type of high-volume, high-speed surgery used at the th; after an angry confrontation with Hawkeye, DeLong gains respect for the work. When one of his patients dies he claims “it’s either God’s will or somebody else’s fault.
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors – Wikipedia
I’m almost embarrassed that I had no idea there were more books. Hawkeye and Trapper blackmail the hospital’s commanding officer into permitting the operation and talk Me Lay into adopting the orphan baby. What kind of books do you like to read?
Reading this is kind of like going into the local VFW and sitting down next to an old guy with a couple of drinks in him and listening to doxtors funny stories about his days in the service. It was written in collaboration with W. Captains Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce share a jeep to the post, discovering that they mash a novel about three army doctors a taste for alcohol and similar views about many issues.
![About About](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123708772/959595404.jpg)
Blake is sent to Tokyo for three weeks, Colonel DeLong fills in. Aside from one brief phase where the guys fall into funks after a particularly hellish couple of weeks following a major battle none of it seems to get to them too much.
The novel took 11 years to novell. Hornberger’s later assessment of his unit’s behavior was: The Last Supper scene–the attempted suicide of the well-hung dentist “Painless”–as depicted the book is poorly realized and peters out no pun intended but is improved mash a novel about three army doctors and made into a classic scene in the film.
A chaplain is found, but the “Swampmen” object maxh his habit of ghostwriting cheerful letters for soldiers without checking the seriousness of their wounds. Is that true rebellion or just another form of good-old-boy mash a novel about three army doctors privilege? I know the way Gary Burghoff subtly developed that character.
Hornberger was born in and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. Friction mounts between the major and the new captains. At the th Evac, they escape and the psychiatrist, accompanied by Henry, finds them at Mrs. But watch it with a group of college doctosr.
Some feel that while he drew his salary as the vicar, he actually allowed a lesser clergyman to perform his duties, a practice known as pluralism. Some drafted doctor’s do meatball surgery three miles from the front in the Korean War. The links will take you to the Web site’s homepage. Business picks up at the th and Trapper and Hawkeye return immediately to find the unit overwhelmed by casualties.
I was very surprised at the many differences between the book and the show, although I still enjoy each of them. A testament to the resiliency of Hooker’s mash a novel about three army doctors story concept in this novel is that the 18 months in which it takes place the actual Korean War was relatively short-lived was stretched out for 11 seasons on television without “jumping the shark” often or growing stale or bereft of new story ideas. As an avid fan of the TV series, and having seen the film when I was far too young to understand half of it must have been about 8 yrs oldit was interesting to see where it all started.
Apr 02, D. Hobson’s religious fervor and mash a novel about three army doctors that Blake have Maj. The Swampmen, who are very fond of Ho-Jon, arrange to have him sent to Hawkeye’s old college. I have read that the tone and realism of the later books is different from the first two novels. You’ll find here awfully great characters, very brisk style and great sense of humour. Hawkeye introduces McIntyre to everyone as Trapper John.
Structurally, the book resembles little more than a loose collection of vignettes, strung together with the Swampmen’s hijinks and connected by the overarching ticking clock of field surgery, the details of which are oddly truncated, given that Hooker himself was an Army doctor. The novel is not anti-war or anti-military in the slightest. To raise funds, Trapper poses as Jesus Christselling autographed photos and making personal appearances.
Otherwise mash a novel about three army doctors are better war books out there. William Morrow Paperbacks On Sale: Hard to believe, I know, but there are cases when the book can’t live up to the visual manifestations it spawns, and M A S H is decidedly one of those cases. They are insubordinate, drunk, and a thorn in the army’s side.
Dec 26, Donna rated it liked it Shelves: To keep them busy, Henry Blake has them teach two new doctors their short-cuts. The government who put the doctors in Korea to fix soldiers and save them from death is the same government that put the soldiers in the field to fight.
Got this for Christmas and have been wanting to read it for a while now. Mar 18, Beth rated it really liked it. When you had a push, there would suddenly be a mass of casualties that would just overwhelm us.
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(M*A*S*H #1)
Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth. The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a wa..more
Published March 19th 1997 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published 1968)
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David MorrisonThe book is more like the movie than the TV show and it's a complete story rather than the first in a series.
dave
dave
KaySadly Hot Lips is only mentioned briefly - it concentrates on the surgeons and Ugly John the anaesthetist.
The MOVIE was BETTER than the BOOK 1,027 books — 9,888 voters
I Only Watched the Movie! 1,110 books — 6,024 voters
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Rating details
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Jan 15, 2019Supratim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
What a book! I am giving it a rating of 4.5!
A friend had told me about this book when I was in college. He had called it a “cult”, I do understand why.
When we think of the military we usually think of discipline, rigid hierarchy, and strict adherence to protocols. But welcome to the mad world of 4077th MASH – one of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) of the US Armed Forces serving in the Korean War.
This book has been written by Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr, under the pseudonym Richard Ho..more
May 28, 2010Kemper rated it really liked it · review of another editionA friend had told me about this book when I was in college. He had called it a “cult”, I do understand why.
When we think of the military we usually think of discipline, rigid hierarchy, and strict adherence to protocols. But welcome to the mad world of 4077th MASH – one of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) of the US Armed Forces serving in the Korean War.
This book has been written by Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr, under the pseudonym Richard Ho..more
Shelves: war, 2011-r, military, humor, rubbermaid-treasure, medical
Treasure of the Rubbermaids 7: The Forever War
The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.
I picture Dr. Richard Hornberger sometimes turning on the television and catching the movie or TV version of MASH and shaking his head in wonderm..more
Feb 28, 2010Evan rated it it was ok · review of another editionThe on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.
I picture Dr. Richard Hornberger sometimes turning on the television and catching the movie or TV version of MASH and shaking his head in wonderm..more
Shelves: humor, booze, 2011-reads, tv, __in-my-collection, korean-conflict, warfare
Richard Hooker is a guy after my own heart. He was a surgeon and not a very talented writer, but he came up with the idea for a story that is so good and rife with comic possibilities that it became both a classic film and an equally classic long-running TV show, and I hope to God the man capitalized greatly from it.
As preface, you must know that I'm a great fan of M*A*S*H in both its film and TV show incarnations, and own both the 20th-Century Fox Four-Star Edition DVD of the film and the entir..more
Dec 30, 2017Juli rated it really liked it · review of another editionAs preface, you must know that I'm a great fan of M*A*S*H in both its film and TV show incarnations, and own both the 20th-Century Fox Four-Star Edition DVD of the film and the entir..more
Shelves: backlist-read-2018, read-openlibrary-2018
When I was in grade school, my oldest sister worked the late shift at Pizza Hut to save money for college. Late at night, she would come home, turn the television on, and sit in the living room to count her tip money and unwind. I would sneak out of bed and join her, helping stack quarters and dimes and we would watch M*A*S*H together. We had to be quiet so mom and dad wouldn't know I was awake because I was not allowed to watch that show..it was on the 'Too dirty for Julie to watch' list. I..more
Jul 25, 2018Rebecca McNutt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition Shelves: war, humor, adventure, comedy, korean-war, fiction, classic, romance
This novel upon which the film and TV series M*A*S*H* were based on still retains the humor factor well, but it also has an edge in that it's a bit more serious than the show was. Following the lives of a team of military doctors during the Korean War, much of the plot and character traits remain the same but this book has a bit more action and drama thrown into the mix. Written during the time of the Vietnam War yet set a decade earlier, it's an interesting look at the past through the eyes of..more
Mar 27, 2017Joseph Spuckler rated it really liked it · review of another edition
An interesting book that kicked off a movie and a twelve-year television series about essentially three doctors drafted into the Korean War. The author writes the chapters like episodes of varying length. I enjoyed the book, but two things were a bit annoying. First, the repeated 'Hawkeye said.. Trapper said..' after each line of dialog in the opening chapter and occasionally in other places throughout the book. The other, few will notice, the use of corpsmen in an army hospital. Corpsmen are..more
Mar 12, 2019Michael Jandrok rated it liked it · review of another edition
My mother and I used to have a fun, weekly ritual back when I was growing up in East Texas. Every Monday or Tuesday night, depending on the broadcast schedule, we would tune into CBS to watch the new episode of M*A*S*H. Now M*A*S*H is one of the all-time classic television series, and to be able to say that I caught most of the episodes on their first run is something of a privilege. I was in my tweens and teens when these episodes aired, and I know that I didn’t always catch the full context of..more
Nov 28, 2013Claudia rated it really liked it · review of another edition
How time flies by..
Richard Hooker may not be the best writer ever but I very much enjoyed his book, because M*A*S*H is my favorite TV series.
There are differences between the two - Hawkeye is married, Frank Burns has an episodic role, Hot Lips as well, and good old Klinger does not appear in the book, neither does col. Flagg.
Still, the others are all here: Radar, col. Blake, Trapper John, father Mulcahy and some new ones. I always loved their dedication and most of all, their sense of humor i..more
Richard Hooker may not be the best writer ever but I very much enjoyed his book, because M*A*S*H is my favorite TV series.
There are differences between the two - Hawkeye is married, Frank Burns has an episodic role, Hot Lips as well, and good old Klinger does not appear in the book, neither does col. Flagg.
Still, the others are all here: Radar, col. Blake, Trapper John, father Mulcahy and some new ones. I always loved their dedication and most of all, their sense of humor i..more
Mar 29, 2008Ryan rated it it was amazing
Richard Hooker's novel about staying sane in insane conditions by using insanity as an escape is brilliantly done. For anyone familiar with either the film or television series based on the book, it will provide a different perspective on the characters that you love and think you know so well. It is a very quick read that seems as fresh on the 100th go through as it did on the first. I recommend it highly.
Sep 21, 2014Andrew rated it liked it · review of another edition
This was one of those totally random choices that in actual fact I was surprised at and really enjoyed.
The book is from the Cassell series of military titles, a mixture of fiction and fact. This book was the basis on which the film and subsequent TV series were based on. It is a fascinating look in to the world of a MASH unit during the Korean war. The highs, the lows and the sheer tedium and how these dedicated and gifted people dealt with it - from crashing golf tournaments to drugging clergy..more
The book is from the Cassell series of military titles, a mixture of fiction and fact. This book was the basis on which the film and subsequent TV series were based on. It is a fascinating look in to the world of a MASH unit during the Korean war. The highs, the lows and the sheer tedium and how these dedicated and gifted people dealt with it - from crashing golf tournaments to drugging clergy..more
Apr 09, 2017Dorie - Traveling Sister :) rated it really liked it
I am a huge fan of the show Mash and so when I was looking for something interesting to listen to I spotted this!
The narration is good and I thoroughly enjoyed the story lines and revisiting my favorite Mash characters, Trapper John, Hawkeye Pierce, Radar O'Reilly and all of the others that I had grown to love. Some of the antics that they came up with made me laugh out loud and I had never seen them on the TV show, some for reasons that would have made the show R rated.
If you are looking for an..more
The narration is good and I thoroughly enjoyed the story lines and revisiting my favorite Mash characters, Trapper John, Hawkeye Pierce, Radar O'Reilly and all of the others that I had grown to love. Some of the antics that they came up with made me laugh out loud and I had never seen them on the TV show, some for reasons that would have made the show R rated.
If you are looking for an..more
Jan 09, 2009Brad rated it liked it
M A S H is a fine book.
It's mildly funny, mildly political, mildly anti-war, and Richard Hooker (aka Dr. H. Richard Hornberger) does just enough to keep us mildly entertained. But he's not the most compelling writer in the world. M A S H is worth a look on a gloomy weekend, or for purposes of nostalgia, but it would be completely forgettable if not for the superior works of art that followed in its wake.
M A S H follows Trapper John, Hawkeye and Duke -- the protagonists from Robert Altman's super..more
It's mildly funny, mildly political, mildly anti-war, and Richard Hooker (aka Dr. H. Richard Hornberger) does just enough to keep us mildly entertained. But he's not the most compelling writer in the world. M A S H is worth a look on a gloomy weekend, or for purposes of nostalgia, but it would be completely forgettable if not for the superior works of art that followed in its wake.
M A S H follows Trapper John, Hawkeye and Duke -- the protagonists from Robert Altman's super..more
'Normal people go crazy in this place.'
MASH: The (very) good book that inspired the great movie that inspired the best television series in the history of mankind! The original source of everyone's favorite screwball army doctors. The brilliance driving MASH, in all its forms, is the mixture of the sweet and the sour. The tension, heartbreak and despair together with unbridled tomfoolery, hijinks and pranks, as the doctors and staff of the 4077th try to stay sane amid the senseless death and des..more
![Audiobook Audiobook](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123708772/866384350.jpg)
Shelves: fiction, hilarious
I wish I’d had the chance to watch more of M*A*S*H, as I love its sense of humour. The film was hilarious and so is this book. I’m taking off one star because quite a few jokes are at women’s expense, also the descriptions of American football are incomprehensible if you’re British and hate sport. Nonetheless, it repeatedly made me laugh on the train and the cast of oddball characters are magnificent. Hooker has such a talent for dialogue and for dipping slightly into pathos before veering back..more
Apr 11, 2008Adam rated it it was amazingRecommends it for: people interested in medicine, millitary, humour
The best and most startling book I've read in years. I had missed the TV show before, because of young age, but maybe it turned out good for me. Cause the read was nothing short of breathtaking. For me is quite straight descent from Heller's 'Catch 22', but I do not see it as a drawback, it definitely deserves a great share of praise on it's own.
You'll find here awfully great characters, very brisk style and great sense of humour. Aside from this, it is really heart-and-mind gripping picture of..more
You'll find here awfully great characters, very brisk style and great sense of humour. Aside from this, it is really heart-and-mind gripping picture of..more
Not the TV show, not the movie but the book. Like most things I read, it's dark and funny. If you liked the movie, you'll like the book. Expect Elliott Gould's twisted Hawkeye rather than Alan Alda's Hamlet-esque tortured thinker. Plus Spearchucker Jones, Frank, Hot Lips, an explanation for Radar's nickname and a football game that even I'd go to.
While this book is set in Korea, it's really more about the Vietnam War and does delve into some darker aspects of the Wars of the 20th century.
Mar 02, 2008James rated it really liked itWhile this book is set in Korea, it's really more about the Vietnam War and does delve into some darker aspects of the Wars of the 20th century.
Shelves: character-studies, humor, relationships, history, culture-and-politics, military
A strong book that conveys an anti-war message without being preachy, using characters that are quite flawed but doing the best they can in a grueling situation. Some of the interactions are dated and come across as sexist today, but that's where our culture was then. I believe this novel belongs on the same shelf with Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five, and others in the same class.
Nov 07, 2017Jay rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I used to take my dinner and go sit in front of the TV to watch MASH reruns, and my folks let me. That’s high praise for a TV show. I recall the first time I saw the MASH movie. I was a freshman in college at the University of Illinois, and campus groups at that time made money by showing movies. This was a popular one, one I saw multiple times with a crowd of rowdy students, not afraid to comment loudly during the movie. This was a fun one. High praise for both. Yet I also remember seeing the l..more
May 07, 2017Bea Charmed added it · review of another edition Shelves: historical, read-in-2017, audio-book, classics
I know I've read this before, in high school I think, but I recalled very little while listening to the audio version. All that was familiar were the bits of the book used in the movie, or later, in the series. The book is a dark comedy, not ha-ha funny, but gives a good look at the realities of living in the middle of a war, and what surgeons had to deal with. There's some flow to the story but it's mostly episodic. The writing is okay but the dialogue tags were atrocious; 9o% were 'he said' an..more
May 11, 2009J.M. rated it liked it
Got this for Christmas and have been wanting to read it for a while now. I'll admit I didn't enjoy the movie, 'MASH,' but I grew up watching the television show and still love it very much. The book reads very much like the movie and I don't think I would've liked it if I didn't know the characters as well as I do from TV.
I definitely think the TV show improved upon the book's theme a LOT ~ the show was funnier (probably thanks in no small part to the brilliance of Alan Alda). While the book is..more
I definitely think the TV show improved upon the book's theme a LOT ~ the show was funnier (probably thanks in no small part to the brilliance of Alan Alda). While the book is..more
Oct 01, 2014Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) rated it liked it
I really don't have a shelf for this book, but I don't suppose that matters.
As an avid fan of the TV series, and having seen the film when I was far too young to understand half of it (must have been about 8 yrs old), it was interesting to see where it all started. I recognised lines from the original film as well as the series, and finally understood the whole 'Suicide is Painless' thing. I remember seeing that part of the movie and not understanding what was happening (Robert Altman's films wi..more
As an avid fan of the TV series, and having seen the film when I was far too young to understand half of it (must have been about 8 yrs old), it was interesting to see where it all started. I recognised lines from the original film as well as the series, and finally understood the whole 'Suicide is Painless' thing. I remember seeing that part of the movie and not understanding what was happening (Robert Altman's films wi..more
Jul 13, 2014Allan rated it really liked it
I vaguely remember seeing MASH on tv when I was a kid, but remember very little about it, so was able to enjoy this book without constantly comparing it to its adaptation.
Following primarily the 18 month tour of duty in Korea of Hawkeye and Trapper John, the novel was both a light hearted look at the escapades both men got up to to pass the time at their post, particularly when casualties weren't forthcoming, but also was explicit in its acknowledgement of the professional job that both men car..more
Following primarily the 18 month tour of duty in Korea of Hawkeye and Trapper John, the novel was both a light hearted look at the escapades both men got up to to pass the time at their post, particularly when casualties weren't forthcoming, but also was explicit in its acknowledgement of the professional job that both men car..more
Oct 19, 2015Becky rated it liked it
A rather short story about a few men in Korea that played at being insane to stop from going insane. Told in a series of vignettes centered on antics, the reader only captures brief sights of the horror or war and of forced participation, and is also very much stuck in the time it was written when it speaks of women or the native Koreans. The book is better than the movie, but no where near as good as the show.. but it sets up the perfect premise for it, so I've got to give credit where its du..more
Dec 26, 2015Donna rated it liked it
I enjoyed this book. I remember watching the original movie not long ago, so it was nice to finally read the book. I liked the movie as well, but I loved the series. In some ways, I can't believe this book launched a successful movie and an even more successful TV series into existence. There was just so much in this book, that could have been developed a little further. But I still liked this. I liked the humor and I liked the spirit of American ingenuity.
Got about halfway and felt like I'd read enough. Very similar to the movie and less the tv show. Quite dark overall but interesting to see source material.
This book is a lot of fun. It's the little things First: this is much more akin to the movie than the show, especially the late season episodes. That being said, many of your favorites are here: Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John McIntyre, Henry Blake, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and Father Mulcahy. However, there's also Augustus Bedford Forrest, the Duke, Ugly John and Spearchucker Jones (blink and you missed them in season one of the series), and a sergeant who used to be the cen..more
Throughout reading this, I found myself thinking of William Steig’s Shrek. If you haven’t read that, you can knock it out in about 10 minutes, reading slowly. The first time I came to it, I’d already seen the first movie, and I couldn’t believe how such a film could grow out of something so small. As I reflected on it, though, I came to admire that little book for inspiring others to such flights of creativity. I couldn’t have read Shrek as creatively as the filmmakers did, but I enjoyed the exp..more
This is a re-read for me. The first time being roughly 20+ years ago.
To paraphrase the author, this is an embellished version of his experiences as a 'Meatball' Surgeon during the Korean War, and was published at the height of the Vietnam War.
If you are only familiar with the TV show or the movie, this is an entirely different animal. The movie came closer to faithfully representing the book than the show, but it wasn't entirely on the mark. The movie was more misogynistic than the novel- some o..more
To paraphrase the author, this is an embellished version of his experiences as a 'Meatball' Surgeon during the Korean War, and was published at the height of the Vietnam War.
If you are only familiar with the TV show or the movie, this is an entirely different animal. The movie came closer to faithfully representing the book than the show, but it wasn't entirely on the mark. The movie was more misogynistic than the novel- some o..more
If you've watched the TV series, you already know all of the stories. The book characters are a little different, but it's the same stuff. The 1950s language and sensibilities are pretty awful (everyone gets an epithet, which grates on 21st century brain). The medicine is there for flavor while Hawkeye, Duke, and Trapper John get up to no good. I gave my rating of the book an extra star just for nostalgia.
Nov 30, 2009Linds rated it liked it Shelves: downers, historical-fiction, movies, war, 1950s, asia
MASH is one of my favorite shows, if not my favorite show. I was too young when it first aired and I started catching it later in re-runs, then finally on DVD. I've seen the movie which I realize was important in the genre of guerrilla film making, but I didn't care for it. I was looking forward to the book in order to get the internal monologues of the characters I have grown so fond of.
For those of you not familiar MASH is the story of the doctors and nurses at the 4077th surgical unit during..more
For those of you not familiar MASH is the story of the doctors and nurses at the 4077th surgical unit during..more
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Richard Hooker is the pseudonym of Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. who was born February 1, 1924 and died November 4, 1997. He was an American writer and surgeon. His most famous work was his novel MASH (1968). The novel was based on his own personal experiences during the Korean War at the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. It was written in collaboration with W. C. Heinz. The novel took 11 yea..more
M*A*S*H(1 - 10 of 15 books)
More quizzes & trivia..
“We act insane, because if we didn't, we would most surely become insane.
- Hawkeye” — 30 likes
- Hawkeye”
“When Radar O'Reilly, just out of high school, left Ottumwa, Iowa, and enlisted in the United States Army it was with the express purpose of making a career of the Signal Corps.” — 3 likes