This is an, *interesting* work of fiction. Bearing only the vaguest resemblance to an accurate biography, Karen Armstrong masterfully weaves a fanciful tale of the life of Muhammad the way she wished he really was. She does this through three separate but not unrelated strategies:

First, she does an excellent job of cherry picking her sources. I have read at least one of her primary sources (Ibn Ishaq) and the picture he paints of the prophet is vastly different from what Armstrong would have you believe with her expertly selected quotes. (I have also read the Quran multiple times and again, it is not nearly the book of peace, equality, and justice she would lead you to believe).

Armstrong's second strategy is an abundant use of such phrases as "could have", "might have", "could possibly be", and even the occasional "one can imagine". Some of her fanciful paintings of what really happened or her rationalizations for what someone's motives were are about as likely as winning the lottery. It isn't gonna happen but, hey, you never know.

The third strategy is to gloss over or completely ignore some of the less savory aspects of Muhammad's life. Those that are less commonly known are not even brought up. The ones that cannot be ignored, like the fact this fifty year old man married a six year old, are given a sum total of two sentences. From that point forward Karen Armstrong speaks of the child as though she were an adult even though she was still only eighteen when he died in her arms more than a decade after their "marriage".

In all, this is a horrible biography. Just horrible. If you want to read a decent one from a Muslim perspective, I would suggest you go back to the source. Get a translation of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. It presents a much more realistic (while still biased) view of Muhammad's life without having to suffer through Karen Armstrong's shallow attempt to impute onto the man modern western sensibilities.