WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HOWARD JACOBSONExplosive, 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.