I like how history often truncates the most complex situations into a sentence, until a good writer comes along with tons of research to show exactly how convoluted the situation was: the Peloponnesian War is an example. You can simply say that two powerful countries in ancient Greece fought a war, and one won, but reading "The History of the Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides, is much more detailed and interesting.

"A Song of Ice and Fire" is full of incidents that you can see future generations in their world thinking is pure myth. Too bad about the mild sorcery elements that are in it, though - I think "The Chronicles of the Black Company" handled these elements better, even though the atmosphere was very different.