#4 - Sept. 6, 2006, 5:56 p.m.
There are a lot of resources if you don't want to go back and play War 3 (though I recommend it if you ever get the inclination to.)
I'd start with The Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans and The Last Guardian. Then move on to the War of the Ancients Trilogy to get more of the background on the Burning Crusade and some of the key characters.
There is also the World of Warcraft site here with some information( including a timeline) for you and of course other websites that have some information you can look up.
We also have many people in the community here that are very adept at answering questions you may have about the lore and storyline for World of Warcraft.