Editing Catch-22 (section)

== Reception ==
The initial reviews of the book ranged from very positive to very negative. There were positive reviews from ''[[The Nation]]'' ("the best novel to come out in years"), the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' ("A wild, moving, shocking, hilarious, raging, exhilarating, giant roller-coaster of a book") and ''[[The New York Times]]'' ("A dazzling performance that will outrage nearly as many readers as it delights"). On the other hand, ''[[The New Yorker]]'' disliked it ("doesn't even seem to be written; instead, it gives the impression of having been shouted onto paper", "what remains is a debris of sour jokes"), and a second review from the ''New York Times'' also disliked it ("repetitive and monotonous. Or one can say that it is too short because none of its many interesting characters and actions is given enough play to become a controlling interest").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?ti=cat-860 |title=The Internet Public Library: Online Literary Criticism Collection |publisher=Ipl.org |access-date=March 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106035214/http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?ti=cat-860 |archive-date=January 6, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  One commentator of ''Catch-22'' recognized that "many early audiences liked the book for just the same reasons that caused others to hate it".<ref name="Catch-22 1994">{{cite book|last=Heller|first=Joseph|title=Catch-22|year=1994| orig-year=1961 |publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=0-671-50233-6}}</ref>{{rp|11}} The book eventually gained a cult following, especially among teenagers and college students. Heller later remarked that in 1962, after appearing on the ''Today'' show he went out drinking with the host at the time, [[John Chancellor]], who handed him stickers that Chancellor had got privately printed reading "YOSSARIAN LIVES". Heller also said that Chancellor had been secretly putting them on the walls of the corridors and executive bathrooms in the NBC building.<ref name="Catch-22 1994"/>{{rp|11}}

Although the novel won no awards upon release, it has remained in print and is seen as one of the most significant American novels of the 20th century.<ref name="BBC" /> Scholar and fellow World War II veteran [[Hugh Nibley]] said it was the most accurate book he ever read about the military.<ref>Hugh Nibley and Alex Nibley, ''Sergeant Nibley PhD.: Memories of an Unlikely Screaming Eagle'', Salt Lake City: Shadow Mountain, '''2006''', p. 255</ref> {{As of|2016}} over ten million copies have been sold.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jordison |first=Sam |date=2016-08-23 |title=Catch-22's 10m copies: how a bitter satire became a bestseller |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/aug/23/catch-22s-10m-copies-how-a-bitter-satire-became-a-bestseller |access-date=2024-06-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Although he continued writing, including a sequel novel ''[[Closing Time (novel)|Closing Time]]'', Heller's later works were inevitably overshadowed by the success of ''Catch-22''. When asked by critics why he had never managed to write another novel as good as his first, Heller would retort with a smile, "Who has?"<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.economist.com/node/21531414|title=Joseph Heller and his fiction. The first cut is the deepest.|newspaper=The Economist|date=October 8, 2011|access-date=March 3, 2017}}</ref>

=== Challenges ===
''Catch-22'' has landed on the list of the [[American Library Association]]'s banned and challenged classics.

In 1972, the school board in [[Strongsville, Ohio|Strongsville]], Ohio, removed ''Catch-22'', as well as two books by [[Kurt Vonnegut]], from school libraries and the curriculum.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Office of Intellectual Freedom|date=2013-03-26|title=Banned & Challenged Classics|url=https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics|access-date=2021-06-18|website=American Library Association|language=en}}</ref> Five families sued the school board. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals]] rejected the claim, stating that school boards had the right to control the curriculum.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hudson |first=David L. |title=Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District (6th Circuit) |url=https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/minarcini-v-strongsville-city-school-district-6th-circuit/ |access-date=2021-06-18 |website=Middle Tennessee State University |language=en}}</ref> The decision was overturned on appeal in 1976.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Pal|first=Anupama|date=2016-02-24|title=Banning Joseph Heller's Catch-22: The Case of Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District and Issues of First Amendment Rights, Intellectual Freedom, and Censorship|journal=Elon Law Review|volume=8|issue=41|pages=41–60}}</ref> The court wrote, "A library is a storehouse of knowledge. Here we are concerned with the right of students to receive information which they and their teachers desire them to have."<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=1976-08-31|title=U.S. Court Says School Boards Cannot Remove Library Books|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/31/archives/us-court-says-school-boards-cannot-remove-library-books.html|access-date=2021-06-18|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court employed a similar rationale in its decision in ''[[Island Trees School District v. Pico]]'' on the removal of library books.<ref name=":3" />

Because the book refers to some women as "whores", it was challenged at the [[Dallas Independent School District|Dallas, Texas, Independent School District]] (1974) and [[Snoqualmie, Washington]] (1979).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />