WWI buff Xmas gift?

December 9, 2012 2:34 PM

What's a good gift for a World War I history buff?

This person especially likes history books about WWI, things related to popular culture at the time, etc. Is thirtyish. Also into comics, art, film.

posted by airguitar2 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 answers total)

What's your budget?

A WWI action figure looks to be about $100.00.

A WWI replica poster is more affordable from $15 to $30 some.

WWI artifacts like gas masks, water canteens, and helmets might be another idea, but those might get much more expensive.
posted by FJT at 2:49 PM on December 9, 2012

Comics? It Was The War of the Trenches, which until recently wasn't in English translation
posted by thelonius at 2:50 PM on December 9, 2012

Trench lighter or a repro trench knife, which has the added benefit of being good for puncturing zombie brainpans.
posted by codswallop at 3:14 PM on December 9, 2012

Acclaimed British WWI comic Charley's War is available in a series of reprint volumes.
posted by permafrost at 3:18 PM on December 9, 2012

Artifacts such as this one (the authenticity of which I do not vouch for) are available on ebay.
posted by goethean at 4:21 PM on December 9, 2012

The West Point Atlas of American Wars, volume II (1900-1918)

It's folio sized, and every other page is a detailed battlefield map.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:51 PM on December 9, 2012

There are lots of cool period battle maps that you can find on Ebay.
posted by professor plum with a rope at 3:14 AM on December 10, 2012

A whistle? Original officers whistles do turn up online.

Or a copy of the Wipers Times? There's a modern edition available but a for little more you can get a 1920s contemporary reprint.
posted by hardcode at 4:35 AM on December 10, 2012

I can highly recommend A World Undone by G.J. Meyer, probably the best one-volume history of WWI (so the reviews say; it was my first). I listened to the audiobook this year and enjoyed it immensely. It was pretty thorough on the military side of things, but there is not a lot of home front or cultural coverage.

He would probably also enjoy The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell, a National Book Award winner, discussing the war through the lens of various literary figures of the time period. It's rather a classic though, so he may have already read it.

There are a shortage of WWI movies worth watching, but the Richard Thomas version of All Quiet on the Western Front is actually pretty good. Plus it's got Ernest Borgnine! The original film is a classic, and won the Best Picture Oscar in 1930.

I'm thirtyish, and into comics, art, and WWI myself, so I'm going to take a stab and say he may also enjoy Tolkien and the Great War.
posted by Wrongshanks at 4:46 AM on December 10, 2012

Paths of Glory?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:41 AM on December 10, 2012