Old School with Shilo Brooks America’s Most Righteous War Produced Its Best Anti-War Novel
12 snips
Jan 15, 2026 
Elliot Ackerman, a Marine Corps veteran and bestselling author, dives into the timeless relevance of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22." He discusses how the novel's absurdism mirrors current global conflicts like those in Venezuela and Iran. Ackerman explores the contradictions of war, the role of humor in depicting its harsh truths, and critiques the bureaucracy that obscures human suffering. He also reflects on the hidden costs of war and the importance of varied war literature for those who serve, connecting past and present with poignant insights.
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Reading Catch-22 At Sea
- Elliot first read Catch-22 at 26 while deployed aboard the USS Iwo Jima during the Lebanon evacuation after returning from Iraq.
- The ship’s Groundhog Day routine and the book’s absurdism made it resonate deeply with him.
War As A Self-Contradicting System
- Elliot Ackerman says war is a self-contradicting system that suspends the baseline moral rule against killing to ‘preserve’ civilization.
- That tension makes war fundamentally absurd and destabilizes moral meaning for participants.
Yossarian’s Trajectory Of Doom And Response
- Yossarian’s arc is a gradual reckoning that he will never reach safety as mission counts keep rising and death is inevitable.
- The novel uses episodic, non-linear memory (e.g., Snowden) to track his growing dread and response.
