Thanks, quite valuable, I've bookmarked it.
There was another book called "Dhimmitude" by a female author that was reviewed on FR favorably. Forget the author.
And I recommend :
http://www.answering-islam.org as the best place on the internet for skeptical information about Islam and Muhammed, etc. Somewhere in that site is a biography of Muhammed written by an English historian of 100 years ago, Muir. Real good, and follows Hadith (this is important because it is what the Islamicist believe Muhammed was):
http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life1/index.htm some great blod-curdling scenes in that book!
It also should be noted that Karen Armstrong is an apologist for Islam with anti-Wetern biases. Her "popular" books are wrong and bad.