MASH

The book behind the hit TV series and movie. The doctors and nurses who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained, dedicated, and pushed to the brink. And they were young - too young to be doing what they had to do.

As Richard Hooker writes in the Foreword, 'A few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees.' Meet the true-life heroes and lunatics who fought in the Korean War, and experience the martini-laced mornings, marathon high jinks, sexual escapades, and that perfectly corrupt football game that every fan of the movie will remember. It's also a story of hard work and skill in the face of enormous pressure and odds. Here is where it all began - the novel that made M*A*S*H a legend.

Born in New Jersey in 1924, H. Richard Hornberger attended Cornell Medical School and became a physician for the US Army during the Korean War. After the war, he worked for the Veterans Administration and went into private practice. Writing under the name Richard Hooker, Hornberger used his experiences at the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital as the basis for MASH. The novel was an international success and was later adapted into the film and TV series of the same name. He passed away in Maine in 1997.