The illusion of victory

the long version

"In this book, acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming undertakes nothing less than a drastic revision of America's experience in World War I. He reveals how the British and French duped Wilson and the American people into thinking the war was as good as won, and there would be no need to send an army overseas. He describes a harried president making speech after speech proclaiming America's ideals while supporting the Espionage and Sedition Acts that sent critics to federal prisons. Meanwhile, a government propaganda machine created a hate-driven "war will" that soon spilled over into attacks on ethnic Americans. On the Western Front, the Allies did their utmost to turn the American Expeditionary Force into cannon fodder. At the Paris Peace Conference, the cynical Europeans mocked Wilson and his ideals, and browbeat him into accepting the vengeful Treaty of Versailles, sowing the seeds of World War II."--Jacket.