Chad is not widely covered in travel literature, but a few books stand out for anyone trying to understand this complex country.
Sahara Overland by Chris Scott is the essential practical guide for anyone planning a Saharan expedition. It covers routes through Chad's north, including the Tibesti and Ennedi, with detailed information on vehicle preparation, navigation, and logistics. If you are driving into the desert, this book is non-negotiable.
A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present by Richard Reid puts Chad's turbulent story into the broader context of African state-building, colonialism, and conflict. It is academic but readable, and helps explain why Chad looks the way it does today.
Chad: A Nation in Search of Its Future by Mario J. Azevedo and Emmanuel U. Nnadozie is the most comprehensive English-language history of the country. Dense but thorough, it covers the colonial period through the civil wars and the oil era.
Historical Dictionary of Chad by Samuel Decalo is useful as a reference if you want to understand the ethnic groups, political figures, and events that come up in conversation. It reads like what it is, a dictionary, but a well-written one.
Suffering Strong: The Journal of a Westerner in Ethiopia, the Sudan, Eritrea and Chad by Nicholas Mottern offers a personal account of life in the Sahel. It is dated but gives a sense of what daily life in the region feels like for an outsider, the heat, the difficulty, the unexpected kindness.