MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors is a 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (the pen name for former military surgeon H. Richard Hornberger and writer W. C. Heinz) which is notable as the inspiration for the feature film M*A*S*H (1970) and the TV series of the same name (1972–1983).

Was mash based off a book?

The hit television show was loosely based on the 1970 Robert Altman film of the same name and even more loosely on a 1968 novel, “M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors,” by former U.S. Army surgeon H. Richard Hornberger, who wrote under the pen name of Richard Hooker.

What war was mash based on?

Though the show was ostensibly about the Korean War, it captured both the nation and Alan Alda's disillusionment with the stalemate and human cost of the Vietnam War, largely through the cranky character of Hawkeye Pierce.