Editing Approved Literature (section)

==History & Non-Fiction==

*'''''Julius Caesar - Commentaries on the Gallic War''''': If you study Latin, this is the first full text you'll be assigned to translate (same goes for Xenophon if you're learning Greek). Caesar wrote this autobiography of his campaign in Gaul to bolster his support among the only so-so literate plebs, and as a result it avoids using big, confusing words. On the flip-side, this makes it dreadfully dry and boring at times. Still, if you want to have ''the'' Roman experience, it's a mandatory read.

*'''''Marcus Tullius Cicero - De Re Publica''''': A political dialogue, explaining all the virtues of Roman Republic. Survived only partially and in short-hands, but still makes a compelling read about "ideal" (and most definitely not idealised into absurdity) state of Roman politics and political machine, along with all the machinations gradually leading to [[Star_Wars|the Republic turning into the Empire]]. An obligatory read for all Romanboos.
*'''''Bernal Diaz del Castillo - The True History of the Conquest of New Spain''''': A contemporary account of Cortes's conquest of the Aztec Empire by a fellow conquistador who served in Cortes's army as a swordsman. Written as a first-person narrative, it is a highly useful source for examining Spanish and Aztec customs for the time, the actions of Cortes, and the events of the Conquest while being full of entertaining details and flourishes. It is also unusual in the fact that the author is impressively balanced in his praise and criticism of Cortes, the latter being a [[Skub|somewhat divisive]] historical figure even today.

*'''''Herodotus - Histories''''': As a historical account, it's almost completely useless and predominately fictional, being single-handedly responsible for bunch of deeply ingrained popular misconceptions about ancient Persia, Egypt, Sparta and Scythia. What it really is is the ancient world's equivalent of a gossip column, thus collecting all the most interesting, crazy and outlandish stories Herodotus heard or copied from others. As such, it's a perfect base for equally outlandish world-building and campaigns, mixing reality with fantasy.

*'''''Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli - The Prince''''': [[This guy]] seems to be very underrated in popular culture, and its name is often used as a pejorative term, sometimes as twisted or evil. But this guy only wrote some sort of historical summary of how previous governments around the world have risen to power, how they handled it, and how they lost it all. It's just a guide of how you should rule your kingdom. You totally won't find [[Skub]] here. A major influence on Camarilla of [[Vampire: The Masquerade]] (note the name of their leaders).

*''''' Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith - The Dictator's Handbook''''': Similar to the previous work, this book goes over Selectorate Theory and it's historical examples across time as to how Politics and power works across various societies. Although this page isn't for the [[skub|political implications]] of the theory, it can be useful for creating a setting or campaign, especially if the [[BBEG]] needs a rationale for his actions, or if you want to understand the behaviors of the [[Imperium]]'s inefficient and horrible bureaucracy. Potentially also could be used to explain the ever [[skub|skubtastic]] Bretonnian lore about how aristocrats act and whether or not its realistic to expect.

*'''''Gerard K. O'Neill - The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space''''': THE sourcebook if you're going to run hard space sci-fi. A terribly dry, scientific thing that explains in headshrinking detail how to build cities in space. Popularized the "Island" series of space colony designs that Gundam and Babylon 5 copied from. While written as a popular science, it is nowdays technically a sci-fi book, since it extrapolates the Apollo program well beyond anything that was or even is feasible nowdays on practical level.

*'''''Jan Chryzostom Pasek - Diaries''''' (Also known in English as '''The Writings of Jan Chryzostom Pasek, a Squire of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania'''): Diaries (duh) of a 17th century nobleman, who, due to spending his life fighting in countless wars and even more quarrels with his neighbuors, traveled half the Europe and always had something to say about the things and people he saw. If you are yearning for your pike-and-shot, but also need some cavalryman crazy panache, look no further. Due to its writing style, it reads almost like an adventure novel and, as improbable as it seems at times, actually happened for real.

*'''''Antonio Pigafetta - Journal of Magellan's Voyage''''': A historical account of the first circumnavigation of the globe. Aside obvious historical value, it's worth to note Pigafetta wasn't an explorer himself or a member of the crew - he was a tourist, joining the expedition for the thrill of adventure and described everything from such perspective. Provides a lot of nautical and ethnographical observations, creating a panorama for Age of Discovery.

*'''''Marco Polo - The Million''''': The seminal travelogue of an Italian explorer as he travelled the breadth of Middle East and Asia all the way to China and back again during the height of the Middle Ages. While there is some question as to the accuracy of the work, scholars today agree that generally speaking the accounts are as accurate as can be expected for the time period.
	
*'''''Sun Tzu - The Art of War''''': The Codex Astartes of ancient China dating back to the Spring and Autumn period. Essentially a "How to Wage Wars for Dummies" guidebook and, as such, somewhat trivial from a modern perspective - which doesn't stop people from gushing how brilliant it is and making it one of the most mis-quoted books in human literature (partly because it was designed to be quoted, as Sun Tzu was writing in a time when literacy wasn't that common in the first place). Most editions contain more commentaries than there is actual Sun Tzu writing in them.

*'''''Publius Cornelius Tacitus - The Annals''''': A Roman historical account of the time from Augustus' death in 14 AD. to the reign of Emperor Nero. Although fragmented as hell (as the overwhelming majority of ancient literature is), it is one of the most important sources on how the Roman Empire survived and gained permanency after its charismatic founder Octavian-Augustus died. It is generally regarded as being one of the finest works of Roman history that has survived, as well as containing one of the only extra-biblical accounts of Jesus, alongside the writings of Flavius Josephus. Tacitus is especially appreciated for his penetrating insights into power politics, so think of him as a proto-Machiavelli in far more readable prose.

*'''''Thucydides - History of the Peloponnesian War''''': Happens right before The Anabasis, covering roughly two decades of warfare between Athens and Sparta, in varying degrees of detail depending on the sources Thucydides had access to at the time (he was exiled from Athens and switched sides mid-war). Trails off at the end, presumably he died writing it. Basically the oldest human text in existence that is regarded as a historical account to be taken at face value, and it inspired many other leaders such as Xenophon and later Julius Caesar to write accounts of their own deeds.
*'''''Adam Tooze - The Wages of Destruction: the Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy''''': A detailed economic history of Nazi Germany, from how they built their gear to the reasoning behind their decisions and their goals as well as the in-fighting and power plays within the Reich between it's various power blocks (German big business, Army, Navy, Luftwaffe, various groups and individuals in the Nazi Party), making [[the Imperium of Man]] look like a well-oiled and efficient machine by the comparison. If you want an idea of how a militarized state hellbent on expansion (doesn't) work, this book outlines it from top to bottom.

*'''''Xenophon - The Anabasis''''': Another historical account, this time of the journey of 10,000 Greek mercenaries (hence the other title - ''The March of the Ten Thousand'') who end up stranded in the middle of Persian Empire after their employer, Cyrus the Younger, got killed in the battle. Problem is, Cyrus was trying to overthrown his brother, king Artaxerxes II, using said Greeks. So now they are in the middle of hostile territory, with no means to resupply, no support and constantly endangered by Persian military and tributary locals. Due to Xenophon's writing style, the book is highly entertaining and action-packed, while also providing countless descriptions of both Greek and Persian customs. And if you wonder why the plot sounds familiar - you probably saw "The Warriors".