[PUGACHEV]

I thought Hugh Thomas' Conquest (1994) was by far the best book I had ever read on the subject and a good place to start before reading Diaz del Castillo.

Some parts of the story are simply incredible. They're just too unlikely to be true, or, as you namesake put it, "Truth is stranger than Fiction, because it's obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I read THE FAIR GOD by Lew Wallace. A good book book by the author of Ben Hur about the conquest of the Aztecs. It ended with La Noche Triste.
Back in 1962, this was republished to promote a new movie in the works, the title read... THE FAIR GOD! SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! FROM WARNER BROS!
The movie was never made.

[thecodont]

They're just too unlikely to be true, or, as you namesake put it, "Truth is stranger than Fiction, because it's obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."

Did Mark Twain say that? Source please? Someone else I read attributed it to Montaigne. Couldn't find it in Essays. Thanks.