18 Best History Gifts for Dad, From WWII to Ancient Rome

David McCullough was America's favorite storyteller of history, and this set gathers three of his books about people who built impossible things. It suits an engineer, a builder or any dad who loves a good how-they-did-it story. A boxed set that looks great on a shelf.

If your dad already listens to The Rest Is History podcast, this book from its hosts is a guaranteed hit. If he does not, it is a great introduction: short, funny chapters on history's oddest questions, perfect for reading in bits. Under $20 and easy to pair with a bigger gift.

If your dad thinks about the Roman Empire more than he admits, this is the book. Mary Beard separates legend from evidence with wit, and it is far more readable than most ancient history. An inexpensive gift that pairs naturally with the Rest Is History book below.

Erik Larson writes history that reads like a page-turner, which makes this set perfect for a dad who enjoys the past but loses steam with dense academic books. The Splendid and the Vile alone, about Churchill's first year as prime minister, is enough to fill a holiday week. Four books means months of reading.

Some history lovers think in maps, and this big DK atlas shows empires rising and falling across the page. It is easy to dip into for ten minutes, which makes it a great coffee-table or reading-chair book. Ideal for a dad who loves to explain where a battle happened and why it mattered.

Our splurge pick for the serious WWII reader. Atkinson's trilogy follows American soldiers from the 1942 landings in North Africa to the fall of Germany, and it is widely considered the best modern account of the war in the West. It will keep a retired or reading-hungry dad busy for a full season.

This reproduction of the original 1960s Game of Life, with its period artwork and spinner, is a fun bit of nostalgia for a dad who played it as a kid. It is a lighter take on history, and a nice excuse for a family game night.

A geography card and board game that tests countries, capitals and populations, good for a dad who likes knowing where history happened. It plays quickly with kids and adults together, so everyone learns something.

Ask any WWII-minded dad for the best war series ever made and most will say Band of Brothers. The Blu-ray set gives him all ten episodes, including the moving interviews with the real veterans of Easy Company. A safe bet if he does not own it, and a nice upgrade if he only has it on an old DVD set.

The documentary that made a generation fall in love with American history, newly restored so the photographs look better than ever. Shelby Foote's storytelling and the letters read aloud make it surprisingly emotional. A good choice for a dad who watches history more than he reads it.

For the dad who always knows what year something happened, this game finally rewards it. Players slot historical events onto a shared timeline, and the second game mode adds trivia. Bring it out at a holiday table and let him show off.

Memoir '44 lets dad refight Omaha Beach or Pegasus Bridge across the kitchen table in under an hour. The rules are simple enough to teach a teenager, and each scenario comes with a short history of the real battle. A great way to share his interest rather than just talk about it.

A vintage-style pocket watch, engraved with a short message or date, feels like something that has already been in the family for a century. It is a thoughtful sentimental gift for a dad who appreciates old-fashioned objects, and one he can pass on someday.

The most important history your dad knows is his own, and it disappears if nobody writes it down. This guided journal asks about his grandparents, his first job and the world he grew up in, so his answers become a family record. Give it with the DNA kit and you have a complete family history project.

For a dad who loves history, his own family's story is the chapter he has never read. This kit gives him an ethnicity breakdown and DNA matches that can lead to relatives and records going back generations. Our top pick under $50 because it often turns into a long, absorbing research project he shares with the whole family.

A century of interiors and architecture from the magazine's archive, laid out in a large, beautiful volume. It suits a dad whose interest in history leans toward design, buildings and how people lived, and it looks good on a coffee table.

Plenty of dads built Airfix models as kids and have not touched one since. This complete starter set, with paints and glue in the box, brings back that quiet weekend hobby with one of the most famous aircraft of the war. A great gift to build together with a teenager.

Our top pick for a study or home office. The Lenox looks like a globe from a 1920s library but uses current borders, so it is both decorative and genuinely useful when the conversation turns to where something happened. Replogle has made globes for over a century, which suits a history buff nicely.