Books by category and region;

Entire Region

Bronze age collapse
-1177 B.C. The year civilization collapsed by Eric Cline
Commentary: This is the famous book on the bronze age collapse. It's also kinda generalized not delving too deep into anything, but gives a good overview.

-After 1177 B.C. by Eric Cline
Commentary: Not about this period in-game, rather it's immidiate aftermath. Well written but very generalized. Good if you want to play historcally a certain path.

Bronze Age Warfare
-Bronze Age Warfare by Richard Osgood, Sarah Monks and Judith Toms
Commentary: An very good generic rundown of all Warfare from Bronze Age Europe, including sea peoples, Greece etc.

Ancient Egypt

Everything Ancient Egypt
-The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson
Commentary: This is a bit of an generalized book, the actual piece on the period with Seti, Amenmesse etc is very small. But you get a really good view of the history around this period.

New Kingdom Egypt
-A History of Ancient Egypt: Volume 3 by John Romer
Commentary: This is book can be read as a stand alone book without the previous volumes. For anyone not interested in the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, Ptolemaic Kingdom and so forth. So it is not as zoomed in as the below book by Dodson, but not as zoomed out as Wilkinson's above. Though be warned, this book is maybe a little thicker than the one of Wilkinson, but lot's of the content is a mix of history of Egypt and history of Egyptology, meaning who dug up what artifact where, then Romer put's that in an historical context. If this style doesn't fit you you should probably ignore this book and go Wilkinson imho, while if you really want the extra information on the New Kingdom this book is it. Personally I wish Romer had left the Egyptology stuff a bit smaller than he did, however, I haven't found a book on the Hyksos+New Kingdom covered without it being a generalized "Everything" book.

1205 b.c. Egypt
-Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty by Aidan Dodson
Commentary: A book about the downfall of 19th dynasty Egypt and it's civil war(s). Invaluable if that's what you truly care about.

-Tausret: Forgotten Queen and Pharaoh of Egypt edited by R.H. Wilkinson
Commentary: About Tausret, the middle chapters are the best.

-Rameses III, King of Egypt by Aidan Dodson
Commentary: For a long time I weighed if I should add this. You see this book covers Ramesses III, our Ramesses, but the game made him the the poster boy. Actually he was only a bigger player much later, after the civil wars and would've been a teen at game start. The book reflects that.

New Kingdom Military
-Ancient Egyptian Warfare: tactics, weapons and ideology of the Pharaohs by Ian Shaw
Commentary: This book contains everything military in Ancient Egypt. However I feel it only glances at the military formations, weapons and so forth and talks about all of ancient Egypt. Where I personally found this book more useful we're in it's description of Egyptian fortifications. Fortifications don't always change as radically as other things.

-Warfare in the New Kingdom Egypt by Paul Elliott
Commentary: Really good zoomed in look at the military of Egypt at this specific time when the game starts. Everything from weapons, tactics, nco, organisation etc.

-Tutankhamun's Armies by John Darnell and Colleen Manassa
Commentary: Hard to say if this is better or worse than the book by Elliott. In my opinion, Eliot gives a better and quicker paced overview of how the New Kingdom military actually functioned. While this book explores lots more 'trivia' around the military to give a fuller context. Plus this book is better written. In this book you get possible company names that could be given to units, base names etc. that could be useful for any hardcore rp person. While Elliotts is more straight forward, here how this and that worked. There is significant overlap, but I also found some things not mentioned in the other.


Context to Egyptian Legacies
-The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney
Commentary: For the Hapshetsut Legacy

-Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth By John Darnell and Colleen Darnell
Commentary: For the Akhenaten Legacy

Hatti

Everything Hatti
-Warriors of Anatolia: A concise history of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce
Commentary: Really well written history of all of the Hittite empire. I have books on order about the Hittites on more zoomed in topics, that I might add here if I like said books, but so far this book is my go-to.

Hittite Military
-Hittite Fortifications c.1650-700 BC by Konstantin Nossov
Commentary: Really really good info on fortifications. Tough not much else kinda short book.

-Hittite Warrior by Trevor Bryce
Commentary: Good info on Hatti's military, incl. some very general short information on Hatti itself. Kinda short book. The closest thing to Paul Elliots book above, but on Hatti instead of Egypt.

Canaan & Syria

Canaan
-The Land of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age edited by Lester L. Grabbe
Commentary: A bit technically written with some acronyms and so forth, but I haven't found anything as comprehensive regarding this period and Canaan, in one compiled book. If you want to know what went down in Canaan in the late bronze age this is it. It also delves into the sea peoples that moved to Canaan, like the Peleset. It presents lots of the theories and goes through different evidence, but also makes a convincing argument for the mixed multitudes thesis as the origin of the Hebrews, Jews, Moab, Israel etc.

Carchemish
-Carchemish in Context: The land of Carchemish project edited by Tony Wilkinson, Edgar Peltenburg and Eleanor Wilkinson
Commentary: Very technically written, not only info on the bronze age Carchemish but also the Iron Age Carchemish. In a nutshell, Hatti continued from here (amongst other places), but with a strong Carchemish flavor after the fall of Hattusha. Think there where even a cadet branch of the royal family of Hatti that continued to rule there for some time
Btw, for those who don't know Carchemish along with Kizzuwatna and Tarhuntassa where Sub-Kingdoms/vice royalties of Hatti, this book thus shines a light on a part of Hatti too indirectly.

Syria
-Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History by Trevor Bryce
Commentary: Modern Syria-Lebanon area from ~~~3000bc to 0bc. This area is essentially largely ignored by Grabbe's book mentioned above. It covers mostly Modern Israel-Jordan area, so they greatly complement each other. In this book you get an good view on the Bronze Age region, but also get to learn about Yamhad al the way to Queen Zenobia.

Nubia

Everything Nubia
-Nubia: Lost Civilizations by Sarah M. Schellinger
Commentary: All things Ancient Nubia, including the New Kingdom period.

Books by category and region;

Mesopotamia

Everything Babylon
-Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek
Commentary: Very generalized, not all about this period, but good overview. Big focus on culture and such things. I think only the last 1/4 or 1/3 of the book was specific to Babylon.

Everything Assyria
-Assyria: The rise and fall of the world's first Empire by Eckart Frahm
Commentary: Generalized, not all about this period, but good overview. The book about Babylon by Kriwaczek and this one actually fit well with one another, they even often overlap and give different perspectives on the same topics.

Western Anatolia and Greece

Troy
-Trojan War by Barry Strauss
Commentary: The book assumes a degree of truth to the Trojan war, and examines it from a historical view. In that sense it gives a plausible historical explanation for the events, but some other authours would have been more sceptical to homer than Strauss. I however like it. Btw, you get tidbits on naval warfare throughout the book, with short discussion on it about in the middle of the book.

Fortifications, architecture & strata
-Troy c.1700-1250 BC by Nic Fields
Commentary: Laser focus on the City of Troy, it's buildings, walls etc. but also a short history of the archaeology and history of the place. Complements the above book by putting the Troy of the Trojan War in a visual context. Strauss gives an estimate of Troys population at 5,000-5,700 while Nic Fields gives an Estimate of 5,000-10,000, Strauss in his book, when giving an estimate of the defending Trojan Garrison size says it would've been at max around 20% of the population size. So this is interesting because Fields would probably end up at a higher figure if his estimates where used. Just a sample of the type of 'discussion' between the books.

Late Bronze Age Greece
Everything Ancient Greece
-Introducing the Ancient Greeks by Edith Hall
Commentary: All of Ancient Greece, not only Mycenae, but also Persian wars, and later. Though I was a bit surprised by this book on how it was written, it is written in a highly story tell-y manner, like an novel almost. Personally I like the the more structured straight forward styles, but I can see how this could appeal to those who like to read more fiction, this just being non-fiction.

-The Kingdom of Mycenae[www.academia.edu] by Jorrit Kelder
Commentary: This is a free 'book' 184 pages, really good introduction to Mycenae, written well, I'd start here if your just curious about the topic and want to know more. You may need an Google account to download it.

The City-state of Mycenae
-Mycenae: Agamemnon's capital by Elizabeth French
Commentary: Kinda short, heavy focus on the city itself, plenty of illustrations. But the book mentions there might have been an rival Greek Hegemon in Thebes, which might be a candidate for 'Ahhiyawa'. This book does not go deep into any other potential Greeces. Also a bit technocal for any novice out there. If acheological terms are scary, I would go with Grguric book.

Military
-Mycenaean Citadels c.1350-1200 BC by Nic Fields
Commentary: A little overlap with the book with French. Though this book has a laser focus on the fortification of Mycenae, with illustrations and less history etc.

-The Mycenaeans c. 1650-1100 BC by Nicolas Grguric
Commentary: some overlap with French, but this book has a significantly bigger focus on the Mycenaean armed forces, it's tactics, weapons etc.

Thrace
-Everything Thrace edited by Vasiliki Papoulia
Commentary: This is written back in 1994, so maybe not the newest book. I have honestly not found any good (new) books on Thrace and I just stumbled accross this one in a second hand book shop. Based on it's markings I'm probably it's 3 or 4 owner. Anyhow, the book starts with the bronze age and goes into the modern age. Talks alot about Greece's Thrace, which in-game Thrace will be limited too as well. Only the beginning of the book tells about the in-game Thrace. But if your interest is broader you'll get from the Bronze age to the Balkan Wars.

Other stuff

Historic Maps
-Atlas of the Ancient Near East: From prehistoric times to the Roman Imperial Period by Trevor Bryce and Jesse Birkett-Rees
Commentary: This book contains plenty of maps and history related to each topic. A lot of the topics are on the Bronze age related to this period. The history is a bit light a few pages per topics. The maps are really good though, some of the settlements in-game seem to be in the wrong places. :)
For example, Alashiya the city, should be named Enkomi, with maybe Kition being Alashiya/Alasa.

Language
-The Elements of Hittite by Theo van den Hout
Commentary: For any complete nutjob out there like me which might like rp a bit too much... with this book you get the basics of Hittite. Something like English 'Charles', aka free man, could be translated as Arawalu.

Most of these are 1-2h if you listen to them, meaning you might actually get through one in a game session and also learn while your at it. Their not as hardcore or deep in info as the actual books above, but still their actual history. Many of the short audiobooks here are from Charles River Editors, I like them because they don't do unnecessary butt licking, I think it was Enthralling history that started off by telling you they will tell you an enthralling story this will excite you bla bla. If something should be interesting it should be written well, not compensated for by butt licking imo.
Some of the books above may also be found as audiobooks, their just longer than most of these listed here.

Why is Qatna in ruins at game start?
-Qatna: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Syrian Kingdom during the Bronze Age by Charles River Editors

What is this realm Yamhad I see in-game?
-Ancient Yamhad: The History and Legacy of Syria’s First Great Kingdom by Charles river editors

Why is Cyprus this Alashiya thingy?
-The Kingdom of Alashiya: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Trading Kingdom on Cyprus during the Bronze Age By Charles River Editors

Arzawa
-Arzawa: The History and Legacy of a Forgotten Ancient Kingdom in Anatolia by Charles River Editors

Amurru
-The Amorites: The History and Legacy of the Nomads Who Conquered Mesopotamia and Established the Babylonian Empire by Charles River Editors

Ugarit
-Ugarit: The History and Legacy of the Kingdom of Ugarit in the Ancient Near East By Charles River Editors

Megiddo
-Megiddo: The History of the Famous Archaeological Site and Prophesized Battle of Armageddon by Charles River Editors

Waset/Thebes
-The Ancient Egyptian City of Thebes: The History and Legacy of the Capital that Became Luxor By Charles River Editors

The Battle of Kadesh
-The Battle of Kadesh: The History of the Most Important Battle Between the Egyptians and Hittites By Charles River Editors

Hatti & Anatolia
-Anatolia and the Bronze Age: The History of the Earliest Kingdoms and Cities that Dominated the Region By Charles River Editors
Commentary: This is a bit longer book, but I think it's because of it might be a compilation of other shorter books.

-Anatolia in the Iron Age: The History of the Empires that Dominated the Region Before Alexander the Great by Charles River Editors
Commentary: Over the first hour is about the bronze age collapse, Troy, Hatti etc. It then goes into the post bronze age period/iron age, delves into Phyrgians that are in-game etc. and gives a historical view on how things ended historically

Bronze Age Europe
-The Bronze Age in Europe: The History and Legacy of Civilizations Across Europe from 3200-600 BCE by Charles River Editors

Invading Egypt
-The Foreign Invaders of Ancient Egypt: The History of the Hyksos, Sea Peoples, Nubians, Babylonians, and Assyrians by Charles River Editors

Myth
-The Illiad[librivox.org] by Homer narrated by LibriVox
Commentary: This is a free audiobook. On Librivox, you can find this in german and Spanish and probably Greek too.

Ancient Egypt
Fall of civilizations podcast Fall of Ancient Egypt[fallofcivilizationspodcast.com]
Commentary: A bit generalized and longer that 2h, but told in a Story telly way which may be to someones liking. Actually in-part based on Toby Wilkinson's book above

-The Egyptian History Podcast[www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com] Made episodes on the game factions

Bronze Age Collapse
Fall of civilizations podcast: Bronze Age Collapse[fallofcivilizationspodcast.com]

Anatolia, Canaan & Mesopotamia
-Oldest Stories Podcast[oldeststories.wordpress.com]

-Check out[en.wikipedia.org] Troy: Fall of a City on Netflix.
Commentary: Not an documentary, but thought it was an good series on the characters of the Trojan War as per Homer.

-The Hittites documentary

-British Documentary on Bronze Age Collapse
Commentary: Features the famous Eric Cline. Watched this on Yle Areena in Finnish, but found it on Youtube from a quick search.

-Oldest stories TWP Playlist
Commentary: Check out his podcast also in addition to this video series. Especially ep.85-96, which are in many ways a Hittite chronology and a little over 30mins per pod episode.
With the map expansion, the same podcaster has extensive coverage of Mesopotamia too, if you like his Hittite episodes or the lore vids, I recommend you also listen to the ones on Mesopotamia.

-Reptilicus lore videos

-Invicta's video on the Bronze Age Collapse

-K&G Waset 3D tour (aka Thebes)

-K&G Hattusa 3D tour

-K&G Mycenae 3D tour
Commentrary: Not in-game, maybe will be with the promised map expansion though.

-Wanax TV
Commentary: Their like K&G but laser focused on Ancient Greece

-The Institute for Study of Ancient Cultures
Commentary: Lots of lectures for free on many topics regarding TW Pharaoh

This is maybe a bit more for fun section. In-game you can rename characters, units and settlements.

Hittite/Luwian names
Hittite Swadesh Dictionary[en.m.wiktionary.org]
Luwian Swadesh Dictionary[en.wiktionary.org]
Luwian and Hittite words and word endings[tied.verbix.com]
Luwian word endings and other such[www.academia.edu]
More comprehensive wordlist of Hittite[lrc.la.utexas.edu]
Commentary: If your like me and you like playing around with names. Say give a general a funny name, say like combining Poop with the word for to eat, azti, making Poopazti. Or more serious something like Muwa+ziti (powerful man) etc.
Also Luwian and Hittite where languages closely related, like Italian and Spanish today. Both where spoken in Hatti. For example if a Hittite general has a name with "ziti" at the end of the name, his name is Luwian not Hittite and so forth. With these links and their knowledge, you could in theory start renaming Egyptian towns to Luwo-Hittite, if you wanted to roleplay a Hittite invasion of Egypt. Say Per-Ramesses -> House of Ramesses [Son of Ra[the Sun] god] -> Uhm, maybe something like 'Parna sa Utudumu' or 'Utudumusari'. A bit nerdy but..

Egyptian names
https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names-pharaoh/
https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/
https://glosbe.com/en/egy
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Egyptian_Swadesh_list
Commentary: Poop+hotep -> Poop is satisfied ;) or Amun+hotep

Nubian names
https://tagvault.org/blog/nubian-names/
Commentary: Not all names applicable, but good start. Wa+poop = son of poop.

Ancient Greek names
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_personal_names
https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/core-vocabulary-of-key-greek-words/
Commentary: Koperus "♥♥♥♥♥♥" or Daimonides -> Son of a Superhuman

Libu/Berber/Amazigh names
Berber names[www.behindthename.com]

Shardana names
Etruscan names[www.behindthename.com]
Commentary: The Sea Peoples pantheon is the Etruscan ones in-game, Shardana according CA Sofia come from Sardinia. Also since we don't know what language they spoke, they could have spoken a related language or not. As good as any.
What confuses things more, is that there might have been Celtic Ligurian settlements, along with Sea Peoples and the native Balares (Nuragic?). With linguistical traces to Basque and Etruscan. What languages they spoke is too much of an mess atm to know.

Mesopotamian names
Sumerian names[www.behindthename.com]
Babylonian names[www.behindthename.com]
Assyrian names[www.behindthename.com]
Akkadian names[www.behindthename.com]
Commentary: Heres some suggestions. The Akkadian names would've been the most common. The sumerian, but Sumerian was still a liturgical language, like Latin today.

Wikimedia
Placename Map[commons.wikimedia.org]
Bigger resolution map[upload.wikimedia.org] of the one below.

Egyptian Civil War between Amenmesse and Seti[commons.wikimedia.org]
What happened after, 1100 bc[commons.wikimedia.org]

Really gorgeous maps on Deviant art by Cyowari[www.deviantart.com]
1275 bc[www.deviantart.com]
1200 bc[www.deviantart.com]
1175 bc[www.deviantart.com]
1150 bc[www.deviantart.com]

World History Encyclopedia
Bronze age trade network[www.worldhistory.org]
Bronze age collapse[www.worldhistory.org]

See here for Research Papers that I've used in my mods.