Recommended by
- Larry Ellison ISBN verified against Open Library — the Everyman's Library edition with Malcolm Bradbury's introduction, the edition shown on Ellison's readby.co shelf source ↗
Summary
Joseph Heller's satirical novel set during World War II, following Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces bombardier trying to maintain his sanity while his commanding officers continually raise the number of missions he must fly. The book coined the term 'Catch-22' to describe a no-win logical paradox — one must be crazy to fly dangerous missions, but asking to be grounded proves one is sane enough to fly. Heller's darkly comic critique of bureaucracy, war, and institutional absurdity became one of the defining novels of the twentieth century.