General, albeit serious and well written reference for an introduction to Protestantism

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This is from a Christian organization, but they are neither Catholic nor Protestant.

The Plain Truth about the Protestant Reformation is a link to the first of an 8 part series on the history of the Protestant movement, by Roderick C. Meredith, published in 2017.

It was also published as a 150 page text book (ISBN 978-1-62479-997-6).

It begins:

The Protestant movement today is on trial. The Protestant Reformation has spawned a veritable Babylon of hundreds of differing denominations. They vary in faith and practice all the way from fundamentalist Quakers to modern Congregationalists, from primitive Methodists to Christian Scientists, from conservative Lutherans to Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses—with hundreds of shadings in between.

What is the real basis of the Protestant Churches throughout the world today? Why did their early leaders revolt against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church? To what extent are they responsible for today’s “divided Christendom”?

Did the Protestant reformers succeed in attaining their stated goals? More importantly, did they succeed in recapturing the faith and belief of Jesus and the inspired New Testament Church? For the real question is whether the Protestant reformers and their successors have succeeded in returning to the “faith which was once for all delivered” (Jude 3).

These questions are vital. Many of us have been reared from childhood in one of the many denominations or sects stemming from the Protestant Reformation. We assumed—as every child does—that what we were taught was altogether true.

Of course, we were, however, all taught different things!

We are told in Scripture to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 KJV). The purpose of this series, then, is an objective examination of the real factors underlying the Protestant Reformation. We will seek to find out why the early reformers rebelled against the Roman Catholic system, and why the various Protestant bodies took shape as they did. Using the impartial facts of history, we will compare, in principle, the teachings, methods and actions of the Protestant reformers with the Bible, which they professed to follow.

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The Encyclopedia Britannica article for Protestantism is very well written, updated from the latest of their printed Macropaedia volumes. It's not too short, not too long, and contain an introduction to all aspects that you mention. I highly recommend it before venturing in depth elsewhere.

The article's Additional Reading section has an introductory bibliography for major topics related to Protestantism.

Britannica articles are well known for their good prose, literary style, and balanced coverage while Wikipedia articles tend to proliferate into distracting technicalities and sometimes tend to miss coverage in background of important concepts. For introductory articles in humanities I prefer Britannica, then I go to Wikipedia for more details.

I also highly recommend the Great Courses History of Christianity in the Reformation Era (which you may find in a college / public library) by a well regarded Reformation-era historian Brad Gregory who has written a 2012 book The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society.

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Here's an introduction from two outside of the mainstream religious branches of Catholicism and Protestantism:

Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices — Frank Viola & George Barna

It is the general introduction you're asking for backed by an outstanding, exhaustive bibliography you can follow up on all the assertions made in the book.

It is not academic and discusses its assertions in everyday language.

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