Joseph Heller and Catch-22War have been around for many years; many famous people fought in the war. Many of them have written novels that reflect their war experiences, both good and bad. Joseph Heller, a veteran who fought in World War II, wrote a novel that would change his life and also added a word to the dictionary. Catch-22 made Joseph Heller famous, but it made him much more famous. It was a book so big that it broke away from its author, then flattened him like a rock. Joseph Heller wrote one of the defining novels of the 20th century. “Catch-22 not only became an international bestseller, but it also revolutionized the publishing industry that produced it; the pocket edition of the novel was a success beyond all expectations and its millions of copies sold brought the novel to the general public. Catch-22 helped pave the way for the decade of the 1960s that changed America so much, becoming one of the most beloved works of the generation that transformed the country's culture. (Peck) Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 1, 1923. He was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States. Heller was the youngest of three children; Heller spent his childhood in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, a neighborhood of lower- and middle-class Jewish families. His family and teachers recognized Heller as a brilliant but bored student; he dabbled in short story writing while still in high school (Good). In 1942, Heller joined the US Army Air Corps. “He spent his years in the army flying around sixty missions as a wing bomber in a squadron of B-25s stationed in Corsica in the Mediterranean” (Fine). When Heller was released... middle of paper ... that the usual madness associated with war is no longer reasonable in the modern age. Works Cited PageFine, Richard A. and Jim O'Loughlin. “Joseph Heller.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-8. Literary reference center. Internet. May 23, 2014. Hasley, Louis. “Dramatic Tension in Catch-22.” The Midwest Quarterly 15.2 (January 1974): 190-197. Rep. in student novels. Ed. Diane Telgen. Flight. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Information Resource Center. Internet. May 23, 2014. Heller, Joseph and Brice Matthieussent. Catch 22. Paris: B. Grasset, 1985. Print.Muste, John M. “Joseph Heller”. Magill'S Survey Of American Literature, revised edition (2006): 1-5. Literary reference center. Internet. May 23, 2014. Peck, David. “Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller.” Magill's Literary Annual 2012 (2012): 1-3. Literary reference center. Internet. May 23 2014.