I have looked through the books that are recommended in the community info. What I want to know is with all the books on history available, how can you tell what is sound information and what is widely conjecture?
Also, I am really interested in ancient Europe and Middle East prior to the fall of of the western Roman Empire. There are so many awesome pieces of period literature, but how can you tell what translations are accurate?
I'm sorry if I have violated any rules or am asking trivial questions.
Obviously, there is always a ton to be said on this sort of question, but you might find this response by /u/Cosmic_Charlie informative