Joseph Heller has established himself as a major satirist in the field of contemporary American fiction. A new phrase was added to the American lexicon from the title of his first novel Catch-22 (1961). The term "catch-22" has become accepted in Webster'...

Joseph Heller (1923-1999) was a popular and respected writer whose first and best-known novel, Catch-22 (1961), is considered a classic of the post-World War II era. Presenting human existence as absurd and fragmented, this irreverent, witty novel satiri...

When Joseph Heller learned that the New York Times Book Review's response to his first novel was negative, he and his family were terribly depressed. "Waiting for that review to come out," he later told David Streitfeld of New York, "I didn't think any o...

A high school student says he was wrongly accused of calling in a bomb threat in part because school officials hadn't adjusted their clocks for daylight-saving time.Cody Webb, 15, called a school district hot line to listen to a recorded message about school delays at...

Gene and Elinor Coleman celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary Tuesday _ a marriage that may be the state's longest. Official records aren't kept so no one knows for certain. But the Colemans have been married long enough that their anniversary brought plenty...

Weeping relatives Thursday laid to rest the tiny coffins of four children killed last month in the United States, along with their father who hanged himself in the same Maryland house.More than 1,000 people turned out for the funeral Mass in the family's hometown of...

The prosecution wrapped up its case Tuesday against a reputed Klansman charged with federal kidnapping and conspiracy in the May 1964 deaths of two black teenagers.The final testimony came from a retired FBI agent who said a fellow agent confronted James Ford Seale about his...