Set during the Korean War (1950–53), M*A*S*H was first a smash-hit movie in 1970 and then a groundbreaking and wildly popular television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series from 1972 to 1983. The screen version, in no unsubtle terms, actually served as a condemnation of America's controversial involvement in the war in Vietnam (1954–75). The small-screen follow-up—which ran eight years longer than the actual Korean conflict—became one of the funniest and most enduring of all TV sitcoms (situation comedies; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3).

The setting of M*A*S*H is the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, a makeshift medical operation situated right behind the frontline fighting. The doctors and nurses assigned to the unit are entrusted to treat the steady flow of wounded being evacuated by helicopter directly from the battlefield. Given...