It's an extreme optimization Doug Lea, the author of the class, likes to use. Here's a post on a recent thread on the core-libs-dev mailing list about this exact subject which answers your question pretty well.
This is a great question, I was looking at ArrayBlockingQueue and wondered the same thing myself. I have a more in depth answer about why the byte code is more compact here for anyone who is curious.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.