Book excerpt: More than fifty years ago, America was taken by storm when Al Capp introduced the Shmoo in his comic strip Li'l Abner. The adorable squash-shaped character was so popular it immediately spawned the largest merchandising craze in the nation's history. In the words of Lifemagazine, the nation was "Shmoo-struck." The Short Lifeand Happy Times of the Shmoocollects, for the first time in one volume, Capp's essential comic strips about the Shmoo. This is Al Capp and his incisive social criticism at its best.