Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past by Olsson, Tore C.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781250895684)

Vendor: Tore C. Olsson
Product type: Books
Format: Paperback
$19.00
$19.00
$19.00
Subtotal: $19.00
Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past by Olsson, Tore C.

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

$19.00
Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past by Olsson, Tore C.

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

$19.00
Format: Paperback
Description
Description
x

A pathbreaking new way to examine US history, through the lens of a bestselling video game

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.

Author: Tore C. Olsson
ISBN-10: 1250895685
ISBN-13: 9781250895684
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Language: English
Published: 11/25/2025
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.38w x 1.00d
By Tore C. Olsson
By Tore C. Olsson
x
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.

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