Powell's thesis is that Wilson erred by bringing the U.S. into WWI, resulting in a decisive victory. Without intervention, the war would have continued, but no one would have won. Russia would have kept the tsars, or at least not had communism if the army could have made a separate peace with Germany. Without Versailles, the Nazis would not have had a cause. The thesis of the book is very short, and plausible. The book consists of a recitation of the evils of the Nazis and the communists, but does not connect those evils very clearly with Wilson. (JAB)