peace,
Bear in mind it is written from their perspective so it will obviously be biased but I'm sure there was lots of battles/violence in the area early on.
My fav books from that list (I've only read some) are the following but I wouldn't describe them as basic.
Logic, Rhetoric, Legal Reasoning in The Quran (right click, save as) or
www.scribd.com/doc/44863342/ (left click)
Rosalind Ward Gwynne
God and Man in the Quran (left click) or Download HERE (right click, save as)
Toshihiko Izutsu
Ethico-Religious Concepts in The Quran (right click, save as)
Toshihiko Izutsu
Discovering The Quran (right click, save as)
by Neal Robinson
Dictionary of Quranic Terms and Concepts (left click)
Mustansir Mir
Understanding Quran: Themes and Style (right click, save as)
Muhammad Abdel Haleem
Study of The Quran (left click)
Mohammed Abdul Malek
The Natural Republic (right click, save as)
Free-Minds.Org
Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (left click)
Amina Wadud
Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (right click, save as)
Summary: article (left click), or read book online (left click)
Daniel Brown
The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam (left click)
Summary of Hadith Criticism
Herbert BergHadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World
Jonathan Brown
Transmission-and-Collection-of-Prophetic-Traditions-Hadith
www.scribd.com/doc/41077970/Summary-of-Hadith-Criticism
Western-Debates-on-Reliability-of-HadithMuhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (right click, save as) or HERE (left click)
Fred M. DonnerYou can watch a video on this if you want:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RFK5u5lkhAMisquoting Muhammad: challenges and choices of interpreting the prophet's legacy (left click)
Jonathan Brown
Ghulam Ahmad Parwez
Islam: a Challenge to Religion (left click)
Fazlur Rahman
Major Themes of Quran (right click)
Islamic Methodology In History (Word doc, right click, save as) or Islamic Methodology in History (PDF file, right click, save as)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/101495489/Islamic-Methodology-in-History (left click)
I have highlighted some of the ones I'd recommend starting with in bold. Please note links/files may expire on that page so I'd recommend downloading everything on that page, spread the word etc.