Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

by Tore C. Olsson

Overview

"Innovative and highly engaging... an inspiring example of what can be done to bring the past to life in all its weirdness and complexity." —The Wall Street Journal

“This work is a trifecta - the perfect book for fans of the Red Dead Redemption series, Westerns and history alike. It is a privilege and a joy to be trusted with Tore Olsson’s words and to see audiences gain new academic insight into the creation of this iconic series.” —Roger Clark, actor of Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II, set in 1911 and 1899, are the most-played American history video games since The Oregon Trail. Beloved by millions, they’ve been widely acclaimed for their realism and attention to detail. But how do they fare as re-creations of history?

In this engaging book, award-winning American history professor Tore Olsson takes up that question and more. Weaving the games’ plots and characters into an exploration of American violence between 1870 and 1920, Olsson shows that it was more often disputes over capitalism and race, not just poker games and bank robberies, that fueled the bloodshed of these turbulent years. As such, this era has much to teach us today. From the West to the Deep South to Appalachia, Olsson reveals the gritty and brutal world that inspired the games, but sometimes lacks context and complexity on the digital screen. Colorful, fast-paced, and dramatic, Red Dead’s History sheds light on dark corners of the American past for gamers and history buffs alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250287700
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

TORE C. OLSSON is an award-winning historian of the United States since the Civil War, and a professor at the University of Tennessee. He has devoted much of his career to making serious history relevant and accessible to the public. In 2021, he taught the first-ever college history class on the Red Dead Redemption games, which provided the inspiration for this book. Born in Sweden, Olsson emigrated to the U.S. in 1990, where he misspent much of his youth behind a video game monitor.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/01/2024

During the peak of the COVID lockdown, Olsson (history, Univ. of Tennessee; Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside) felt an urge to return to the digital realm of historical video games. Red Dead Redemption II was his choice. Set in a fictionalized West of 1899, it featured a bunch of idealist bandits under Arthur Morgan, a lieutenant in Dutch Van der Linde's gang. Morgan's henchmen are the last gasp of anarchy in an age of expanding hierarchy and control, roaming across the Great West, Deep South and Appalachia, and briefly the Caribbean. The game addresses issues such as women's suffrage, railroad capitalism, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, the Pinkertons as strike breakers, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow. When classes resumed, Olsson used the game to teach his students—more video game savvy than history savvy—about the conflicts that convulsed the U.S. between 1865 and 1920. He used their enthusiasm for the game to draw them into an exploration of broad themes in American social history. It turned out to be an attractive way to mine history without trivializing it. VERDICT Given the game's popularity, this distinctive history book, both substantial and thoughtful, should dive off the shelves.—David Keymer

Library Journal

2024-04-02
An intriguing look at how the gaming age offers imaginative possibilities for the teaching of history.

Video games have come a long way, writes Olsson, since he spent many hours of his younger life perched in front of a screen. In the Covid-19 lockdown period, he rediscovered gaming and was amazed at the degree of development and sophistication of recent decades, something highlighted by the popular Red Dead series. As a professor of history at the University of Tennessee specializing in the post–Civil War era, he came up with the idea of creating a course connected to the game, using it as a platform to explore the social and political tensions in the U.S. in the late 19th century, when the game is set. The author shows how the series, especially Red Dead Redemption II, contains a huge amount of historical information. The games are certainly violent, but it was a violent time, as society struggled to come to terms with rapid industrialization, emerging corporate capitalism, and entrenched racial conflict. The series follows a group of (fairly) honorable outlaws as they travel from the Midwest, through the South, and into the Appalachians. The Red Dead designers obviously devoted great attention to the detailed artwork and narrative development, although a problem is that many of the issues raised in the game relate more to the 1870s than the 1890s. Olsson suggests that the next installment in the series should be set in the years immediately after the Civil War. “When we balance the ledger book of good and bad, the game ultimately does far more to advance historical understanding than not,” he writes. This book is not for everyone, but it is informative and enjoyable.

Olsson has much to say about connecting the past to the present in ways that are novel and fun.

Kirkus Reviews

"Informative and enjoyable...Olsson has much to say about connecting the past to the present in ways that are novel and fun."

—Kirkus

"This distinctive history book, both substantial and thoughtful, should dive off the shelves.—Library Journal, starred review

"A landmark in writing about video games. Never before has a trained historian dived so deeply (and enthusiastically!) into a game's politics and milieu. From puncturing the sacred American cowboy myth to figuring out how violent, really, the West actually was, Professor Olsson effortlessly illuminates one of the greatest games ever made."

—Tom Bissell, screenwriter, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

“Like taking a college class from a brilliant, funny professor—except the professor is also a gamer.”

—Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire

"Millions of people have imagined the United States of 1899 through the lens of the video game, Red Dead Redemption 2. Tore Olsson explores that virtual world with the sympathetic insight of a skilled historian and devoted gamer... Immersive, unflinching, and fast-moving."

—Edward Ayers, Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities and President Emeritus, University of Richmond

"As addictive and compelling as the video game it examines....Red Dead's History is a great read, and it will delight both fans of the game and anyone interested in the consequential events that made America what it is today."

—Megan Kate Nelson, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Three-Cornered War and Saving Yellowstone

“In this remarkable book, [Olsson] invites students of history and devotees of historically situated video games to recognize what they can learn from one another.... Red Dead's History is an eye-opener for anyone interested in our culture and politics."

—Steven Hahn, Professor of History at NYU and Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Nation under Our Feet

“Worlds collide in Red Dead’s History, where video game players and historians meet.... It’s a lesson in taking readers where you find them, welcoming them, and using familiar stories to give a truer account to an avid audience. Tore Olsson proves that history can be fun.”

—Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History Emerita at Yale University

"Brilliantly conceived... I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness—from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching—that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting."

—Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning

From the Publisher