War Games: Inside the World of Twentieth-Century War Reenactors

by Jenny Thompson

D-Day with beach umbrellas in the distance? Troops ordering ice cream? American and German forces celebrating Christmas together in the barracks? This could only be the curious world of 20th-century war reenactors. A relatively recent and rapidly expanding phenomenon, reenactments in the United States of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War now draw more than 8,000 participants a year. Mostly men, these reenactors celebrate, remember, and re-create the tiniest details of the Battle of the Bulge in the Maryland Woods, D-Day on a beach in Virginia, and WWI trench warfare in Pennsylvania.

Jenny Thompson draws on seven years of fieldwork, personal interviews, and surveys to look into this growing subculture. She looks at how the reenactors' near obsession with owning “authentic” military clothing, guns, paraphernalia, and vehicles often explodes into heated debates. War Games sheds light on the ways people actually make use of history in their daily lives and looks intensely into the meaning of war itself and how wars have become the heart of American history. The author's photographs provide incredible evidence of how “real” these battles can become.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: World War II, History, War

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Davina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when it first came out. If you were part of the reenactment scene there were lots of folks who were vehemently derisive of this book. I found it a quite thoughtful and sympathetic work, trying to understand the what and why of reenacting. Her focus is largely on World War II, then World War I, the Vietnam. I don't recall any real focus on Korea or any other conflict. The author makes a good faith effort to understand the German reenactors. It easier, perhaps, to empathize with your fellow countrymen (the Americans, since this book is written from a USA perspective) who were "the good guys" and won. She had understandable confusion regarding those Germans who couldn't understand members of the public reticence regarding their chosen impression. At the time, the most vehement denunciations appeared before the book was even released, and given their content, it seemed they hadn't read the book. I think this was a brilliant piece of work.

[Julian Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Does a great job of describing the lives of people who have devoted so much of their lives to reenacting war. I particularly enjoyed the sections about Nazi reenactors and how they dealt with letting other people know about their potentially controversial past time.

[Bob Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thompson takes her years of active participation and study of war reenactors (of the two World Wars mainly) and turns it into a cultural portrait. It has a fascinating mix of anecdote and theory, and of sympathy and criticism. She comes around to the idea that this type of war reenaction at least is primarily an attempt to form personal connections with and ownership of shared history.

[Michael Dorosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Thompson does a really good job of penetrating a largely male domain and effectively dissecting the motivations of military reenactors in a balanced and even-handed look at the hobby. Also includes a useful glossary of terms and a, perhaps surprisingly, scholarly approach to the topic, including footnotes and full index.