What is the author's tone in A History of God: The 4000-year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong?

Given the history of hostility and outright warfare between societies in the three main monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Muslimism, from the Crusades through the medieval European anti-Semitic pogroms and the Israel and Palestinian conflict, it is remarkable that Karen Armstrong is able to maintain an even handed, professorial tone throughout the book. This is not to say that she condones the reprehensible actions and teachings of various regressive, fanatical groups, which unfortunately exist in all the main religious groups, but she does so in a meticulous and thoroughly academic manner. Everything in the text is profusely referenced, and there is a copious reading list at the end of the book.