Ibn Asakir’s biography of Khalid al-Qasri, nearly 30 pages in length, is the longest extant biography of this important Umayyad-era figure. Curiously, a careful examination of Ibn Asakir’s biography of Khalid confuses our image of this central Umayyad character rather than explaining him more clearly. Instead of filling in details of earlier, sketchy descriptions of events, Ibn Asakir deviates substantially from the standard narrative of Khalid’s life and presents an alternative explanation for most of the significant events in Khalid’s career. For example, he includes a different version of the reason for Khalid’s dismissal from his post as governor of Iraq and he provides a detailed, alternative narrative of Khalid’s downfall that casts al-Walid b. Yazid’s decision to turn him over to his enemy Yusuf b. Umar in a different light. Despite its length, Ibn Asakir’s biography of Khalid excludes the poetry laden with tribal animus that was central to al-Tabari’s well-known account. This omission is particularly notable, given that Ibn Asakir also emphasized Khalid’s patronage of Bedouin poets. This paper will describe Ibn Asakir’s biography of Khalid in detail, emphasizing his deviation from the standard narrative offered by al-Tabari and other earlier sources. It will examine Ibn Asakir’s use, and perhaps abuse, of earlier sources to construct his alternative narrative of Khalid’s career. Based on this analysis of sources and on a broader reading of Ibn Asakir’s biographies of late Umayyad figures, the paper will also offer some suggestions about what agenda Ibn Asakir might have been pursue in his revisionist biography of Khalid al-Qasri. The implications of this agenda for our reading of Ibn Asakir’s biographies of other Umayyad figures will also be considered.