Catch-22 by Joseph Heller recounts the exploits of an Air Force squadron on a fictional island of Pianosa, during World War II. This island is near the Italian coast in the Mediterranean Sea. The main ambition of Captain John Yossarian in life is to live forever or die in the attempt. Yossarian and his team suffer a nightmarish existence defined by bureaucracy and violence. The squadron is thrown into brutal wars, with their superiors continually raising the number of missions more than they are required to fly. With a large cast of characters and a non-chronological narrative, Heller shows madness and bureaucratic lack of ability or skills. This is a dark satire about the atrocities of war where a U.S. Army bombardier fights to retain his sanity, in order to fulfill service. Read this 1961 serious and tragic classic.