How much profit is reasonable in time of war? This question lies at the heart of concerns about war profiteering between the period 1898 to 1945. Antiwar advocates believed that eliminating profit from war would prevent wars from beginning. Government officials were more concerned about limiting private profits to control the ultimate cost of warfare. The patriotic emphasis on unity and sacrifice during both World War I and World War II helped the government gain public support for regulating war profiteering. In both periods, however, the government only had mixed success holding down illicit wartime earnings, leading to postwar recriminations against American business. The Wilson and Roosevelt administrations were less concerned about how arms dealing led to war, and more interested in controlling prices once their respective wars were under way. During both world wars, the administration tried to ensure that it paid "reasonable" prices for war-related goods and limited...