1. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller (1961)
The Brothers Karamazov made this list as an influence on the whole of religion, although many other works could lay just such a claim; Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Jungle likewise influenced global issues, albeit in a specific context, and other books could have been chosen in those instances as well. Catch-22 is a bit of a mixture - it highlights specific issues in a specific war, but also questions the very idea of war in general - and there are hundreds of other books that do the same thing (like All Quiet On the Western Front). Catch-22 may be the best example in recent memory, though, as war conversation has never been the same. Joseph Heller never managed to match the depths he plumbed in Catch-22 (in fact, a book he wrote late in his career regarded an ageing author who could only manage one good book). Yossarian is a protagonist you have to love, and the pages are packed with more memorable, funnily-named characters - Milo Minderbinder, Doc Daneeka, and Major Major Major Major. The phrase "Catch-22" has since made its way into the English language, and the idea it signifies has as well - the illogical logic that pervades Heller's book pervades life in the modern era, and nowhere is this paradox more apparent than at war. In Catch-22, the enemy is anyone who will get you killed - not a single German is in the book. Heller underscored the absurdities of war and the absurdities in the modern condition, and as long as wars rage on, his book will inform how we talk about them. Which other novels have had a significant impact on how we interact today? Let us know in the comments section below!