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    Why Joseph Heller's 'Catch-22' is a relevant antiwar satire in the age of Trump

    by Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times May 20, 2019 6 minutes

    America's wars are scattered with the brave, rabid and opportunistic.

    From Vietnam to Iraq, the toll of conflict has taught us that leaders will lie, false heroes will be exalted, corporations will reap hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts, and those who protest the horror and farce of unfolding bloodshed will be stamped unpatriotic and sent on their way so as not to disturb the flag-draped reverie.

    That is the essence of Joseph Heller's 1961 masterwork "Catch-22," a novel set in World War II that stripped away the glory of battle through conniving, clueless and scary characters that would symbolize the misadventures of future wars. With President Trump threatening Iran and North Korea testing missiles, Heller's book, an allegory for life's mayhem, is as prescient today as when it was published at the threshold of America's foray into Vietnam.

    "The novel is an incredibly, beautiful, hilarious, moving satire about the insanity of war," says novelist, poet and screenwriter Luke Davies ("Lion," "Candy"),

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