Joseph Heller was an American satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright, best known as the author of Catch-22, a celebrated antiwar novel. The darkly comic novel, centers on the antihero Yossarian. It is based on the writer’s own experience as a bomber pilot in World War II and takes a satirical look at war, bureaucracy, and the maddening logic or lack thereof. To him the rational response to war was not bravery or heroism, but cowardice. The book received mixed reviews upon publication in 1961, but soared in popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s as its themes found a receptive audience in the Vietnam War era. He was often compared and grouped with the authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, and Philip Roth. In the book, Heller wrote. "Orr would be crazy to fly more missions. . . . but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to”. These words typified the phrase Catch-22 which entered the English lexicon and refers to "any absurd arrangement that puts a person in a double bind. Heller wrote five additional novels, including Something Happened, Good As Gold and Closing Time, a sequel to Catch-22, as well as short stories, plays, screenplays, and the memoir, Now and Then.