Ideas for the Hard-to-buy-for Historian 2

Brian Brennan, Calgary writer and author of The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story from Fifth House publishers, recommends tickets to Passchendaele -- with popcorn and a Coke:

The big Canadian history story of this year has to be Passchendaele. Aside from Paul Gross’s $20 million epic film about Canada’s extraordinary accomplishment on the fields of Flanders in 1917, there is the novel by Gross based on the film’s screenplay, and the illustrated history by Norman Leach, who served as historical advisor on the film. At a time when our soldiers are fighting and dying in Afghanistan, it is good to be reminded again that, almost 100 years ago, Canadians were tested against the worst horrors of a world war and proved their heroism.