OT: Warhammer 40k

[AgentZero]

Sometimes I wonder if me putting OT in my subject lines is redundant. It's a post by me, which almost by definition means it'll be OT.
Anyway, a friend of mine got me Warhammer 40: Dawn of War for Christmas (she read a review that said it was less strategy & more blood, and thought of me. Isn't that sweet?). I haven't had much time to play it, but what I have played has been pretty good, but it's also got me wondering a bit about the Warhammer 40k lore.
From peeking around a little I've determined there's a vast amount of lore about, dozens of books and such, but does anyone know where one might find a more condensed version? I'm not talking a page or two, a few dozen is fine, but a few dozen novels will take up far too much time I don't have.
Any suggestions? Preferably webpages over books since they're free & I can get them right away.