In Labor and the Wartime State, James Atleson examines“labor regulation during World War II and its subsequent effect onpostwar labor relations and, especially, labor law” (1). In sodoing, Atleson seeks to provide a corrective to existing labor historyin which “the dawn of the postwar period is often perceived asunaffected by the war yet somehow quite different from the prewarera.” This paradox of the “unimportant war” is notrestricted to labor history, and Atleson's focus on the war can andshould become a model for other scholars.