Learned a little bit about the Persians in class this week and was wondering the best books on Cyrus and the Persians.
Okay, let's do this!
For military history (which is highly relevant to Cyrus, considering his conquests), look at these two:
For general Achaemenid history, look at these:
Hope these help!
Excellent question, with more answers than I think you really want. u/ByzantineBasileus hit the two surveys that everyone should have a look at. Ancient Persia by Matt Waters is brief and concise and From Cyrus to Alexander by Pierre Briant is still the definitive book on Achaemenid Persia. I have a few more recommendations.
Discovering Cyrus by Reza Zarghamee. Assuming you mean Cyrus the Great, this is the book.
The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period by Amelie Kuhrt. This is an invaluable collection of primary sources for the Persian Empire with commentary.
Encyclopaedia Iranica is a free, online, academic encyclopedia for all parts of Iranian history, including the Achaemenids.
I also maintain a much larger list the most useful books for ancient Persia on my website