He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt. Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. Joseph Heller's unforgettable novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it. This fiftieth-anniversary edition celebrates Heller's masterpiece with an introduction by Howard Jacobson, rare images from Heller's personal archive and essays by the likes of Norman Mailer, Anthony Burgess and Christopher Hitchens. "Reading Catch-22" is nothing less than a rite of passage. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.