MASH

October 1, 1998
The popular television series M*A*S*H owes its historical accuracy in part to Apel, chief surgeon of the 8076th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in 1951 and consultant on the show. Here Apel (with son Pat) expands on the themes common to the television episodes and familiar to viewers: the severe working conditions, the irreverence hospital staff often had for army protocol, and the insufficiency of necessary supplies. Apel outlines the historical and political forces that created these conditions and, ironically, the considerable advances in emergency medical care made during the Korean War. Although his work is heavily autobiographical, Apel draws from primary and secondary Korean War literature to provide statistics and documentation. Personal photos appear throughout the text. Well written and researched, this book provides entertainment as well as historical value and is appropriate for both public and academic settings.--Andy Wickens, Univ. of Illinois, Lib. of the Health Sciences, Chicago

September 1, 1998
The 1951 doctors' draft took Otto Apel out of surgical residency and sent him to Korea. He felt obligated to serve but now deplores his lack of military training before being placed at the battlefront. In contrast to his preparation was that of the other subject of his account, the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), developed to meet the special needs of the Korean War. Aided by his son, Apel writes in particular about the formation and daily activities of the 8076th MASH, to which he was assigned. He began operating the moment he reached the unit, stationed near the 38th parallel, and learned military surgery from the muddy or dusty ground up. Improvisation was essential every day, as was teamwork among the surgeons, nurses, and support staff, who, Apel shows, provided exemplary care for the wounded soldiers. The great difference between the MASH on TV and the MASH at the battlefield, Apel and his colleagues later felt, was that the latter had casualties. ((Reviewed September 1, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)

March 1, 1999
Ages 5^-8. Former poet laureate of Kentucky and nonagenarian Still takes familiar and not-so familiar ancient nursery rhymes and sets them in the rhythms and locutions of Appalachia. Some are very down-home, indeed: Jack scorches his pants jumping the candlestick, and Little Bopeep's sheep come home with tails full of burrs. Others are touched with local color: "Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John / Caught a catfish forty feet long." Sometimes a word, such as "tadwhacker" for small boy, is discreetly defined at the bottom of the page. The black-and-white illustrations are done in appropriately exaggerated style, with echoes of 1940s schoolbooks and even of artist Thomas Hart Benton. A short profile of Still ends the book. More than local appeal, surely. ((Reviewed March 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)