I was quite excited to see this book by Garry Wills in the American Presidents Series, because I am working my way through this series and have had my eye on other books by Garry Wills. Win/win, right? I was shocked at how little I enjoyed this book by a well-known prolific and eclectic author with a massive reputation. It seemed like either Wills was writing with a gun to his head, or that he had originally written a 700 page book and the editors told him to whittle it down to 160. Sure, the writing was good enough, but it seemed to be more about the War of 1812 than Madison. I guess some people would find all the details about the various Generals and other military figures, the number of ships and militiamen, and the number of guns on various boats fascinating, but I was led to believe that this was a book about the president? And what was with all the long quotes in a 160 page book?