For the price, Osprey books seem to be very good resources. I have a decent collection of them (including all the ones on this thread, the ones on pirates, and more). The value of the commentary is usually dependant upon the author, though Osprey is usually quite good at who the pick to write them.
I know little about Reid, though Angus Kontam (who wrote 4 of the pirate books) is a well known writer on the topic. The same is for Stephen Turnbull, who writes most of the samauri ones.

As a general rule, Osprey are referenced and used as a "quick reminder" by a huge number of scholars I have met. If I ever am curious about an era, period, or topic I don't know a lot about, Osprey's are usually some of the first ones I look for as an initial overview source. They provide good overview (which helps understand more detailed sources) and usually contain many primary sources in the illustrations.

For your purposes, I'd look to Osprey ones, as well as our own Matt Newsome:
http://albanach.org/evolution_pt2.htm
and his other articles.