MASH FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Best Care Anywhere

by Dale Sherman

Here's the lowdown on the unforgettable show about the Forgotten War. M*A*S*H began as a novel written by a surgeon who had been in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. After being rejected multiple times, the novel would go on to become a bestseller, leading to 14 sequels, an Oscar-winning movie that propelled its director and actors to stardom, and a multiple-Emmy-winning television series that lasted nearly four times the length of the war.

M.A.S.H. FAQ looks at how the novel came to be, its follow-ups in literary form, the creation of the popular movie, and – most importantly – the television series that transformed comedy and television in the 1970s. Included are chapters on the top-20 pranks of M*A*S*H , the cast members' careers before and after the television show, famous guest appearances, and movies shown in the mess hall.

Beyond the fiction, M.A.S.H. FAQ also features a brief chapter to put the war into perspective for easy referral – and looks at what led to the Korean War, how such medical units functioned, and how M*A*S*H shaped our perception of the era.

554 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2016

About the author

Dale Sherman has written biographies and references guides on KISS, Alice Cooper, women in rock music, urban legends in rock, Quentin Tarantino, Mel Brooks, John Waters, M*A*S*H (in all its various forms), and "End of the World" movies, with most still available for purchase.

His fifteenth and newest book - available December 2022 - is FOUR SCORES AND SEVEN REELS AGO, which examines the U.S. Presidency through the lens of Hollywood movies.

His sixteenth book, THE WORST WE CAN FIND, about MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 and similar programs, will be released in June 2023.

He lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, daughter and too many animals.