Ibn al-Salah (1181-1245c.e.) compiled this work as an overview of the science of Hadith. As such, it is both a summary of most of the previous works on this topic as well as a critical analysis of some of its key concepts and rules.
al-Sira al-Nabawiyya of Ibn Kathir
The work at hand, in its original Arabic is, in a sense, the product of two minds: author himself, Abu al-Fida `Imad al-Din b. `Umar b. Kathir, and, to a lesser extent, its editor, Mustafa `Abd al-Wahid.