Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" is a novel that satirizes the war, while at the same time, uses the war to satirize society as a whole. One running theme throughout the book is the soldier's loss of individualism. This loss of individualism is not due to the horrors of the battlefield, such as in "The Eye in the Door," but caused instead by the mentality and egotism of the army's top brass. Lt. Scheisskopf and his obsession …

…find themselves in when dealing with bureaucracy. According to Heller, Catch-22 is "the law that says what is commanded is right simply because it is commanded, and the illogical must be done because the command says it is logical." To any rational mind, this entire concept is absurd, but its truth as a reality rings close to home, making "Catch-22" an exceptionally well-written novel that has continued to thrive long after the war is over.