Burckhardt is readily available in English. I even wrote a review of his book at this site in January - see the review below. He does require a bit of basic knowledge, though.
If you're looking for an informational overview it's a bit harder for me to suggest something since most of what I've read has been in Italian as of late (or German, in the case of Burckhardt). I'm sure there's a relatively short and concise book of some sort out there, though.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*