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 war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few
flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of
ways and degrees."
For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version
of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings
and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if
incompleted suicide--all as funny and poignant now as they were before
they became a part of America's culture and heart.