Hello r/Askhistorians, last semester I took a survey course of the Ancient Near East. I was very interested with the topics on the Hittite Empire, 1600 BCE- Approximately 1200 BCE, and would like to research the topic further. Does anybody have some recommendations for further research on this subject?
The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce (a leading Hittite scholar) is a book about the Hittite empire, focusing on how the empire came to be, what made it succesful and why it collapsed in the end. It was published not too long ago, so it's up to date on the latest historical evidence.
Bryce wrote another book about the Hittites called Life and Society in the Hittite World. Here, he tries to recreate, as far as possible, the daily life of the average Hittite person.
Taken together, you've got yourself quite a good starting point for further research.
Oh, I forgot to ask: Do you know German? That opens up your research options a lot, especially with the Hittites since that's been a very German field for a long time.