Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel?s strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller?s classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage. Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, "Catch-22" is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller?s bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man?s efforts to survive it.