Al-Durar al-Kaminah - al-'Asqalani (4 vol.)

This book is a fascinating read, it is an 9th century account of the biography of various leaders at the time. This part is found under the section of the book expounding upon the Mongols, most of whom had not radiated out of central Asia at this time. People have no idea of the treasures in classical Islamic historical works. Most of them are not translated, but most of the stuff that people deem "apologetics" for things such as the hadith are already in there. There are many manuscripts that have compiled commentaries on the entire works of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Muslim, for example.