I’m taking the journey to write my own novel. I would appreciate any books that would help in building a working society and politics to build up a more feasible or believable environment for the reader. Diagrams on power structures or even autobiographies on people who have through serious events. I’m in the process of acquiring books on Julius Caesar and Nero. Any suggestions for reading are more than welcome or even YouTube videos. I also find other subjects such as animal behavioral studies and how they relate to society beneficial. Like the mouse utopia experiment.

Read The Grand Chessboard by Zbinew Brezisnki. The reason you should read it is that it’s a public work that is striking in its vast scope of geopolitical concerns and its pure concern with power, from a powerful diplomat with a large audience in the international community.
It’s a unique insight into how global governance is envisioned by powerful brokers.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. An interesting look at alternative explanations as to why some cultures start to expand aggressively. As much of a blockbuster as such a book can be, there is no shortage of opinions and views on this book by now, but it is still a good read.

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore. An engaging way to approach history, by focusing on the actions and personalities of a regime leader and those around him. With a lot of usage of new (at the time) sources in the form of letters and communication in this circle, it is a book where most people will still find new ways to look at things.

Ciano Diaries by Count Galeazzo Ciano. The personal diaries of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was executed in 1943. Since it contains no "afterthought" and was not intended for publication, it is a very interesting insight into the politics of WW2 and pre-war Europe. It is definitely one of those books where you should read up on the author first however, so you know who is writing and what to be skeptical of.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty. A book that hit hard when it landed and generated a lot of discussion. Regardless of that, the book is a masterclass in assembling historical sources on economics and guiding the reader through their problems and application. That said, this one reads more as a academic tome than the other books in this post, so it is not always a page-turner.

Thank you both. I’ll start looking into those five books right away.