This guide was created by T. R. Parker and Dr. Mark Dubis to assist students with the Biblical Backgrounds course at Union University. The course is a survey of the history, literature, archaeology, geography, and culture of biblical times.
Best one-volume backgrounds reference for OT. Arranged in canonical order. If you could only buy two volumes for biblical backgrounds research, buy this volume and the sister volume by Keener for NT.
An excellent resource to learn what backgrounds may be significant for a given NT passage, but see Evans/Porter for more detailed treatment of specific topics.