Lore for Beginners?

[Demik]

I've never read quest text or bothered to understand the story of the Warcraft universe. I would like to understand the story and take my time going through Cataclysm. Could someone point me in the direction of where I can find a breakdown of major characters and events? Willing to read a book or two and play through the original Warcraft games. But for now I would like to find a site or resource dedicated to the lore. I played through some of WC3, but I want to play again all the way through to help my understanding of this universe. I read character bios on wowwiki, but i have no concept of the timing of the events describe in the character info.

Help me out. It would be awesome to me to understand everything leading up to the cataclysm. Will reading quest text and the books laying around as I level an alt help, or does the lore go deeper than what's told to us in game?

[Bobptimus Prime]

Wowwiki.com is going to be your friend. Just start with the major faction leaders, and click on any name that's a link in their stories. Medivh, as well.

That SHOULD get you caught up on most of the basic.

[Cuttlephish]

If you've got the little book that comes in the box with World of Warcraft it's got a decent small section in it that's set out by date, I think. It's a good place to start before opening a million wowwiki tabs like me >.<