Heller, Joseph

Catch-22
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Classic American novel that will have you laughing!
  • "Immoral logic seemed to be confounding him at every turn."
  • Great Writing and Very Entertaining
  • A Word To The Wise...
  • A Quixotic Quirk of a Comical Sense
 Catch-22
Joseph Heller
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. Slaughterhouse-Five
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ASIN: 0684833395

Amazon.com

There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.

Book Description

Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a new term to the dictionary.

At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to some one dangerously sane -- a masterpiece of our time.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Classic American novel that will have you laughing!.......2007-06-15

I recently reread this book for the first time in 25 years and it is still one of the funniest books I have ever read. Last time I laughed this hard was Across the High Lonesome. Catch 22 demonstrates the absurdity of bureaucracy in war in a hilarious way. The most appealing attribute of the book is how it re-enforced catch 22 throughout the novel and you realize the concept is applicable not only in the military but also in the government, at the office, and even family. The characters are real flesh and bone and in the end I was sad to see them go. Anyone who enjoys watching the ineptitude of interoffice politics and bureaucracies will enjoy this book. And do try Across the High Lonesome it I'll make you laugh and cry! I picked it up after seeing Larry McMurtry had given it Props, and he was right!

5 out of 5 stars "Immoral logic seemed to be confounding him at every turn.".......2007-06-12

To immerse yourself in the WWII-era nightmare at the heart of Joseph Heller's masterful novel is to lose yourself in a world where bureaucracy has run amuck, logic and sanity have become rare commodities, and the threat of imminent death permeates the very air. And yet, the only person who can see all of this is Yossarian, a bombardier who has the misfortune to be stuck in a war while being, as the dust-jacket points out, "dangerously sane." He is terrified by the dangers that surround him, disgusted by the wanton behavior of his compatriots, and angered by the selfishness of his superiors. He just wants to go home and leave all this behind him, but that seems to be an impossible dream. The closer he gets to the end of his tour, the further he gets from going home as power-hungry, image conscious superiors concoct new ways to extend the number of missions their pilots must fly. This is a war where the accuracy of a bombing run is seen as irrelevant so long as it photographs well (a pretty explosion is all part of the CO's PR campaign), a mess hall officer can run an international business that makes him the most powerful man in the unit, and a dead body can be allowed to lie around without getting removed if that officer's paperwork never arrived (making him never officially exist to the bureaucrats), and more. The logic that they and all characters except Yossarian use is utterly absurd, lending "Catch-22" a farcical air, but the genius of Heller's work is that their outrageous logic is actually an only mildly exaggerated version of the logic that we are forced to abide by in everyday life. You can read in his inspired satire the problems that plague any bureaucracy, whether it be as mundane as the office or as vital as the government.

"Catch-22" is outrageous, yes, and that may turn some readers off, but it is a novel that has a devilish heart and a wicked wit at its core - not to mention the fact that it is sheer genius, and it isn't as far-fetched or outlandish as it may initially appear. Heller's tone is pitch-perfect and never wavers, and his vision has made "Catch-22" a timeless classic that is every bit as relevant today as it was when it was first published. An absolute must-read.
Grade: A+

P.S. If you like this check out Kurt Vonnegut, another spectacular absurdist author. I'd recommend Slaughterhouse-Five or my personal favorite, Mother Night.

5 out of 5 stars Great Writing and Very Entertaining.......2007-06-04

This was a very popular book when it first came out, and millions of copies were sold in the paperback version in the 1960s.

However, the reviews were mixed. The Sunday Times, for example, thought that the book was far too "repetitious" and it lacked "craft and sensibility." But a reviewer from the Herald tribune in New York thought it was "a wild, moving, shocking, hilarious, raging, exhilarating, giant roller coaster ride of a book." Those two reviews summarize the basic traits of the book. I am quoting Joseph Heller (above) who wrote a piece on the reviews for his book.

The reviews were not unanimous because - and this is a simplification that I make here - this is not a novel in the purest sense as one might think of a novel such as Madame Bovary. It is not a well balanced work of art where one has a few strong characters and a strong plot. Rather, it is a wandering story or a series of short stories all linked by a common protagonist. The hero, Yossarian, is an air crew memeber in a bomber wing which is stationed off the coast of Italy during World War II. The book has a series of strong characters, all held together by a weak plot; it is a series of very funny portraits of various characters in the bomber wing. Each chapter is about a different member of the wing: various colonels, generals, fellow crew members, the chaplain, etc. It descibes their actions, motivations, and inner thoughts.

The book describes how they cope with the isolation, the pressures of war, and the ambitions of the regular officers, especially the colonels who want to become generals.

So, this is a great piece of literature but perhaps not the great American novel. It took Joseph Heller about 8 years to write this story of World War II, and we assume that he has drawn on his knowledge of the bomber wing from his own time in the air-force. It is irreverent humor which leaves the reader laughing out loud on many occasions during the read.

The only other similar book that I have read is Slaughterhouse Five, but the present work is much longer and more complex.

This is an interesting and entertaining read that can be read in a day or two.

1 out of 5 stars A Word To The Wise..........2007-05-29

I know... it's just me (it's always just me), but please take heed, and special notice that "Catch 22" is written in the form of a diary. Just as "Dracula" is. It seems most people don't mind the diary style, but I can't get over it. It's as though I'm reading someone else's letters, and it doesn't engage me at all. Take that for what it's worth. I can't get through "Dracula" either and that's just as highly praised, if not more so than "Catch 22".

This is a public service announcement from a reader who cares. Enjoy whatever it is you wish... as long as you're reading!

4 out of 5 stars A Quixotic Quirk of a Comical Sense.......2007-05-04

When I heard Catch-22 was up for grabs in my English 9 class, I was eager to obtain the book. From Amazon and even from a few of my friends I had heard good things about the book, the biggest being its humor. This book was perfect for a person of my reading level, which is around the 11th to 12th grade mark. I would say, however, that it is quite long for anyone looking for a casual read.

The book itself stars the satirical Captain Yossarian. Yossarian is an American bombadier in WWII stationed in the fictional camp on the nonfictional island of Pianosa, Italy. Through the book, many events lead him to other parts of Italy like Bologna and Rome. Yossarian has to fly more and more missions, and after the witnesses the death of Snowden, he is demoralized and simply stops trying. Yossarian's new goal is to just stay alive. The general idea of the book revolves around a universal idea called a Catch-22, in which no conclusion can be made due to the fact that both options cancel each other out. If event a has to happen, event b must happen, but event b cannot happen without event a, etc. In essence, a Catch-22 is an unobtainable paradox. It is this paradox that keeps Yossarian and his wingmates in the war for a walloping 80+ missions.

Yossarian's wingmates are all a bunch of strange individuals, each with their own stories to be told. As such, each chapter usually focuses on that character to help the reader better understand why things are the way they are. However, this often causes the narrator to have to go back and this can disorient the reader. Another low point is how it takes a while for the plot to actually advance. I swear I got déjà vu reading this book. However, in the end of the book, things start coming together and it focuses mainly on Yossarian.

The book's highly-praised humor is one of its selling points. The dark, satirical, and sometimes just plain funny humor is evident, as each chapter has some sort of funny happening, such as a witty, lightning-fast debate that lacks logic, or the distortion of famous quotes to fit a character's personality. It is this that keeps the reader pushing on through all 453 of its pages.

Catch-22 may be a long book, but anyone interested in an entertaining, humorous, and just plain good read, should pick it up today.
God Knows
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • An Original Take on an Old Story
  • The first Heller book I couldn't finish
  • An interesting read
  • Hilarious Sleeper
  • A disappointing king
 God Knows
Joseph Heller
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684841258

Book Description

Joseph Heller's powerful, wonderfully funny, deeply moving novel is the story of David -- yes, King David -- but as you've never seen him before. You already know David as the legendary warrior king of Israel, husband of Bathsheba, and father of Solomon; now meet David as he really was: the cocky Jewish kid, the plagiarized poet, and the Jewish father. Listen as David tells his own story, a story both relentlessly ancient and surprisingly modern, about growing up and growing old, about men and women, and about man and God. It is quintessential Heller.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars An Original Take on an Old Story.......2007-04-20

This rambling narrative is told by the biblical King David as he approaches the end of his life while simultaneously trying to entice Bathsheba back into his bed and avoid naming her son Solomon his heir.

Don't look for history here. Oh, yes, David recounts multiple biblical stories - frequently amending, editorializing, and re-assigning authorship - but most of his time is spent recalling the details of his life, speculating about the characters of biblical patriarchs, commenting on the motives of his family members (many of whom spend large portions of the book trying to kill him), bragging about his writing and musical skills, reminiscing about his multiple wives and their various connubial talents, and kvetching about inaccuracies in Michaelangelo's statue of him.

Oh yes ... about that last ... Heller's David is unfettered by linear history. He quite happily claims authorship of virtually every famous line ever written (up to and including Tennessee Williams) as well as the musical masterpieces of Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, discusses the American Civil War, dissuades his nephew from going off to conquer Russia, Korea, Japan, Turkey, England, Germany, France, and "Poland, too, if there is one", and complains about the relative scenic wonders and cultural opportunities offered by Hollywood and Cannes as compared to those of Jerusalem.

And when he's not doing that, he's thinking about God. Talking to God. Arguing with God. Convincing himself and his contemporaries that God is dead -- or a homicidal madman.

It is Heller's genius that he manages to make all this eminently readable and laugh-out-loud funny.

2 out of 5 stars The first Heller book I couldn't finish.......2007-02-05

His first book, Catch-22, was an tirelessly irreverent and sometimes violent and darkly comic romp through War, the country in itself. After Catch-22 Heller was never able to muster and sustain the same manic absurdity.

This is not to say that other offerings are not worthwhile. For those who can handle it, his other masterwork, Something Happened, is essential. It's a sustained work of angst, this time dispensing with the mania expansive cast of characters in favor of a horribly sober depiction of the middle-class home and office as a solitary confinement chamber.

Nothing that followed bit as hard. By the time his next book, Good As Gold, came out, his voice had become diluted. Gold is a light and competent novel about a man trying to break out of academia and the tiring nature of family in favor of lucrative government work. It takes some jabs at the White House and in particular Kissinger but never really connected. He even takes down the fourth wall for a brief moment halfway through in a sheepish admission that he doesn't have it anymore.

Picture This was, if not groundbreaking, a thoroughly worthwhile offering, and a rare treat, essentially an entertaining and socially critical book on history, imperialism, and vanity filtered through a fantasy device.

Even Portrait Of An Artist As An Old Man might deserve a look, if you like Heller enough to read a fallen giant's admission of defeat.

God Knows, however, I couldn't even finish. There is no discernible target of criticism here - as much as Heller used to have contempt for men of power, David comes across as an awfully sympathetic and harmless character. God gets a couple silly jabs here and there, but nothing too sharp or committal. It's as if Job were to say, "hey, come on, you're killin' me here!" This is a thoroughly harmless book that takes genocide in jest. If you were expecting the Heller you know and love to take on religion and ancient "heroes", you will be disappointed. He lashes out against aphorisms, though. I guess that's something.

You might pick up a few neat new Hellerisms here and there ("nothing fails like success"), but that's about it. Skip in favor of any of the above if you're looking for a cup of Joe.

4 out of 5 stars An interesting read.......2007-01-17

Classic Heller style, but not nearly as clever or insightful as Catch-22. Some monotonous repetition abounds. Still, God Knows has some laugh-out-loud scenes and a very interesting spin on religion and the Old Testament. I loved the many embedded references to classic proverbs and quotes, and how King David recites the poem "Ozymandias" verbatim to his son Solomon to make a point. Solomon's character also came as a shock: a half-witted miser and plagiarist instead of the Biblical profound philosopher. Overall, an interesting read.

5 out of 5 stars Hilarious Sleeper.......2006-11-03

This book is certainly a new take on the Old Testament story of King David. Lots of irreverence and so much that is virtually upside-down. David himself talks to us - a lot - and tells us all. Some might find this depiction of an over-the-top King of Israel kind of blasphemous. I ended up with the wonderful feeling that God is good, all the time!

1 out of 5 stars A disappointing king.......2006-09-02

Maybe not being a Jew colours my perception of Joseph Heller's work, but I found it irreverent and gratuitously bawdy. Actually I am hardly qualified to write a review of it as I did not read it to the end preferring to pass it on to my next-door neighbour who is a Muslim and who may well be enjoying reading it, but I doubt it.
No Laughing Matter
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    		No Laughing Matter
    Joseph Heller , and Speed Vogel
    Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0743247175

    Book Description

    <B>MEMOIR</B>

    It all began one typical day in the life of Joe Heller. He was jogging four miles at a clip these days, working on his novel God Knows, coping with the complications of an unpleasant divorce, and pigging out once or twice a week on Chinese food with cronies like Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and his buddy of more than twenty years, Speed Vogel. He was feeling perfectly fine that day -- but within twenty-four hours he would be in intensive care at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital. He would remain hospitalized for nearly six months and leave in a wheelchair.

    Joseph Heller had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating, sometimes fatal condition that can leave its victims paralyzed from head to toe. The clan gathered immediately. Speed -- sometime artist, sometime businessman, sometime herring taster, and now a coauthor -- moved into Joe's apartment as messenger, servant, and shaman. Mel Brooks, arch-hypochondriac of the Western world, knew as much about Heller's condition as the doctors. Mario Puzo, author of the preeminent gangster novel of our time, proved to be the most reluctant man ever to be dragged along on a hospital visit. These and lots of others rallied around the sickbed in a show of loyalty and friendship that not only built a wild and spirited camaraderie but helped bring Joe Heller, writer and buddy extraordinaire, through his greatest crisis.

    This book is an inspiring, hilarious memoir of a calamitous illness and the rocky road to recuperation -- as only the author of Catch-22 and the friend who helped him back to health could tell it. No Laughing Matter is as wacky, terrifying, and great-hearted as any fiction Joseph Heller ever wrote.

    Download Description

    "MEMOIR It all began one typical day in the life of Joe Heller. He was jogging four miles at a clip these days, working on his novel God Knows, coping with the complications of an unpleasant divorce, and pigging out once or twice a week on Chinese food with cronies like Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and his buddy of more than twenty years, Speed Vogel. He was feeling perfectly fine that day -- but within twenty-four hours he would be in intensive care at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital. He would remain hospitalized for nearly six months and leave in a wheelchair. Joseph Heller had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating, sometimes fatal condition that can leave its victims paralyzed from head to toe. The clan gathered immediately. Speed -- sometime artist, sometime businessman, sometime herring taster, and now a coauthor -- moved into Joe's apartment as messenger, servant, and shaman. Mel Brooks, arch-hypochondriac of the Western world, knew as much about Heller's condition as the doctors. Mario Puzo, author of the preeminent gangster novel of our time, proved to be the most reluctant man ever to be dragged along on a hospital visit. These and lots of others rallied around the sickbed in a show of loyalty and friendship that not only built a wild and spirited camaraderie but helped bring Joe Heller, writer and buddy extraordinaire, through his greatest crisis. This book is an inspiring, hilarious memoir of a calamitous illness and the rocky road to recuperation -- as only the author of Catch-22 and the friend who helped him back to health could tell it. No Laughing Matter is as wacky, terrifying, and great-hearted as any fiction Joseph Heller ever wrote. "
    Good As Gold
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Good As Gold
      Joseph Heller
      Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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      Heller, JosephHeller, Joseph | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 0684839741

      Book Description

      Bruce Gold, a middle-aged, Jewish professor of English literature, finds himself on the brink of a golden career in politics -- and not a moment too soon, as Gold yearns for an opportunity to transform a less-than-picture-perfect life: His children think little of him, his intimidating father endlessly bullies him, and his wife is so oblivious that she doesn't even notice he's left her. As funny as it is sad, Good as Gold is a story of children grown up, parents grown old, and friends and lovers grown apart -- a story that is inimitably Heller.
      Bodywise
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		Bodywise
        Joseph Heller , and William A. Henkin
        Manufacturer: Wingbow Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        Accessories:
        1. Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)
        2. RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device

        ASIN: 0914728733

        Book Description

        Bodywise is based on Joseph Heller's own brand of deep-tissue bodywork, which makes the connection between life issues and natural bodily alignment, and shows how to restore the body's natural balance. The book teaches readers how to regain control and become a full-time owner of their bodies. Part One explains the way the body works, in everyday life as well as in the structures of consciousness. Part Two takes the reader on a guided tour of the Hellerwork experience.
        Something Happened
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          		Something Happened
          Joseph Heller
          Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

          United StatesUnited States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
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          ASIN: 0684841215

          Book Description

          Bob Slocum was living the American dream. He had a beautiful wife, three lovely children, a nice house...and all the mistresses he desired. He had it all -- all, that is, but happiness. Slocum was discontent. Inevitably, inexorably, his discontent deteriorated into desolation until...something happened.

          Something Happened is Joseph Heller's wonderfully inventive and controversial second novel satirizing business life and American culture. The story is told as if the reader was overhearing the patter of Bob Slocum's brain -- recording what is going on at the office, as well as his fantasies and memories that complete the story of his life. The result is a novel as original and memorable as his Catch-22.

          Closing Time
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            		Closing Time
            Joseph Heller
            Manufacturer: Scribner
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback

            ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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            ASIN: 0743239806

            Book Description

            <FONT SIZE="+1"><B>Thirty-three years and over ten million copies later...the classic story continues.

            Yossarian returns -- older, if not wiser -- to face a new foe.</B></FONT>

            An instant classic when published in 1961, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 still ranks among the funniest -- and most serious -- novels ever written about war. Now Heller has dared to write the sequel to his 10-million copy bestseller, using many of Catch-22's characters to deftly satirize the realities and the myths of America in the half century since they fought World War II.

            In Closing Time, a comic masterpiece in its own right, Heller spears the inflated balloons of our national consciousness -- the absurdity of our politics, the decline of society and our great cities, the greed and hypocrisy of our business and culture -- with the same ferocious humor that he used against the conventional view of warfare. Back again are characters familiar from Catch-22, including Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, the chaplain, and little Sammy Singer, as they come to the end of their lives and the end of the century -- all linked, this time, in uneasy peace and old age...fighting not the Germans, but The End.

            Outrageously funny and totally serious, and as brilliant and successful as Catch-22 itself, Closing Time is a fun-house mirror that captures, at once grotesquely and accurately, the truth about ourselves.
            Readings in Database Systems (Mogan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
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              		Readings in Database Systems (Mogan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
              Michael Stonebraker and Heller
              Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback

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              ASIN: 1558605231

              Book Description

              Readings in Database Systems, 3rd Edition is the most up-to-date compilation of papers to explore DBMS applications which were first published in the now classic "Red Book" in 1988. Dr. Stonebraker and Dr. Hellerstein have selected a spectrum of papers on the roots of the field, which include classic papers from the â€Â~70’s on the relational model to timely discourses on future directions. This new streamlined edition includes 46 papers that cover much of the significant research and development in the database field, organized by area of technology.

              Expert introductory analysis of each section topic of the book is provided by leaders of the DBMS field along with a discussion of each reading.


              From the Preface: "The main purpose of this collection is to present a technical context for research contributions and to make them accessible to anyone who is interested in database research. This book is intended as an introduction for students and professionals wanting an overview of the field. It is also designed to be a reference volume for anyone already active in database systems. This set of readings represents what we perceive to be the most important issues in the database area: the core material for any DBMS professional to study."

              * Third edition is completely revised and streamlined to include the most significant new and classic papers along with introductory materials
              * Coverage spans the entire field of database, including relational implementation, transaction management, distributed database, parallel database, objects and databases, data analysis, and benchmarking
              * Offers a new section on objects and databases including selections on object oriented databases as well as Object-Relational databases
              * Lecture notes available on Morgan Kaufmann Web Site updated by the authors to include each paper
              * The definitive book on DBMS applications
              Catch-22
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                		Catch-22
                Joseph Heller
                Manufacturer: Vintage
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Paperback

                WarWar | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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                Heller, JosephHeller, Joseph | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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                ASIN: 0099477319
                We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang--The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
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                  		We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang--The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
                  Harold G. Moore , and Joseph L. Galloway
                  Manufacturer: HarperAudio
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Audio Cassette

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                  5. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare (Cambridge Illustrated Histories)

                  ASIN: 0060082569

                  Book Description

                  In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together these actions constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.</p>

                  The story of how these men persevered paints a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor.</p>read by Johnny Heller

                  Authors:

                  1. Hellerstein, David
                  2. Helprin, Mark
                  3. Hemans, Felicia
                  4. Hemingway, Ernest
                  5. Henry, O.
                  6. Heraclitus
                  7. Herbert, Edward
                  8. Herbert, Frank
                  9. Herbert, George
                  10. Herbert, Mary

                  Authors

                  Authors