Athanasius has a blunt, simple style of writing; however, he can run off on tangents that are quite off-putting for those trying to get to know him for the first time. For that reason, newcomers should probably skip Against the Heathen, which is more difficult, and dive straight into On the Incarnation, which you can read here alongside C. S. Lewis's excellent introduction.

For those wanting to go a bit deeper, Against the Arians should definitely be the next port of call, and can be found online or in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd series, vol.4).

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Thomas Weinandy's Athanaius: A Theological Introduction is probably the best overall introduction, and has the advantage of being up to date with important changes in scholarly opinion.

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The now classic introduction to the intracacies of the Arian debate is R. P. C. Hanson's The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy 318-381. Its scholarship is a little dated and it is quite opinionated, yet it remains the standard.

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