Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist by Mike Farrell - 4 stars

[Booknblues]

My idea in choosing an autobiography by Mike Farrell is that I would be entertained and learn something about the cast and filming of M*A*S*H while giving a nod to expanding my horizons to South Korea.

I actively avoid celebrating memoirs and really am unfamiliar with the latest celebrities, be they musicians, comedians, actors or new (to my mind why are they even famous) as the Kardasians. But I love M*A*S*H and continue to watch reruns of it today, so I thought that Mike Farrell's autobiography might be fun.

Farrell or should I say Mike barely touches on M*A*S*H although he does say, "M*A*S*H demonstrated that you could work within the sitcom framework and still be about something—in this case, something wonderful and real, human and touching—rather than superimposing a false reality on a fake premise." He also talks about the warmth and camaraderie of the crew and explains what he likes about each one of them.

What Mike does talk about is his journey as an activist. I found that he is very involved and very sincere about social justice and has a long career working in causes throughout the world and the United States. He is not only involved but he is knowledgeable and I was impressed with this. He has visited countries around the world in times of conflict on fact finding missions. Among those countries visited are Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bosnia, Somalia, Israel, Cambodia, Palestine, and Rwanda.

He is also very involved in the fight against the death penalty and other issues of social justice in this country. He has visited many prisons and had discussions with prisoners on death row.

He has been married to actress Shelly Fabares for over 30 years and is very commited to his family which he talks about in the book.

As would be expected it isn't great and exciting writing, but it isn't bad. He has been deeply involved with so many different causes all of which revolve around social justice that I am ashamed to say that I began to find it a bit tedious.

If you have a different political position from Mike, I expect that you wouldn't enjoy this book. I am glad I read it and have a new found respect for the man.