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

I am a huge fan of Red Dead Redemption, and I love how the author actually used the series as a focal point for one of his classes that eventually became this book. It’s a great comparison of how accurate Red Dead was in trying to capture the essence of the industrial age of America! A great read for fans of the series. I recommend playing Red Dead Redemption 2 before reading.

For context, I have played through 'Red Dead Redemption' twice and 'RDR 2' upwards of 5 times. I have obtained the platinum trophies (I play on PlayStation) for both games. Anyone who's played the games, and is familiar with trophy/achievement hunting, knows how big a task that is. 100% completing these games can easily take over 100 hours each using a guide, and plenty more without. Collectively, including my time playing for sheer enjoyment rather than trophies, I have played the 'Red Dead' series for at least 1000 hours. So, before I got my hands on this book, I felt there was nothing left to excite me about the series, other than the quality of the game itself. I've researched most, if not all of the lore. I've found all the treasure and chance encounters with NPCs. I've played with and without cheats activated. I've even experimented with glitches and such. I thought I was done. Then, I caught wind of the existence of Prof. Olsson's book. I ordered it the same day I heard about it. After reading the preface, I was a bit concerned that this book would shoot holes (pun intended) in the old-west fantasy these games have helped create in my mind. A fantasy that I cherish and that, in some ways, have changed me for the better as a person. I didn't want that ruined with hard-to-digest facts about what life was actually like in, and around, the years that the games take place. I was happy in my ignorance, or so I thought. To my surprise (and relief), with each chapter I read, I actually found myself feeling more excited for yet another playthrough of the games, as I gradually began to realize that I would now better understand the references, inspirations and situational relevance. Instead of destroying my Red Dead-born fantasy of the old west, this book actually helps to guide and clarify it. As a Black-American man who is painfully aware that my actual experience in the time period of these games would have been vastly different from my fantasies, I find it helpful to have a better understanding of to what extent, as explained in chapter 8. As a player who did enjoy the later chapters of RDR2 involving the characters Rains Fall and Eagle Flies, I admittedly did not quite understand the significance of those missions beyond my own, very surface-level knowledge of the actual 'Indian Wars'. Now, thanks to this book, those missions will have the impact on me that I believe the game's developers intended. These are just two examples of how thoroughly (yet palatably) 'Red Dead's History' covers and explains the contents of the games. Since reading this book, I've been "Mr. Did-You-Know?" to my poor wife, who is also a gamer, but has yet to play the RDR series. I sense her interest is growing, though, after seeing my rekindled excitement for the games after reading this book. I highly recommend 'Read Dead's History' to anyone with even a modicum of interest in the history of the United States, but I even more highly recommend it to fans of the game who, like most of us, wish we could play the game for the first time again. Reading this book and then re-playing the games with the knowledge the book provides is as close as we're going to get until RDR 3 is hopefully released at some point in the future. A massive thank you to Prof. Tore C. Olsson for this work. I very much envy the lucky students who got to take your college course on the subject.

Once in a while, a piece of art is so great that it warrants a book to further explore the richness of the work, to make the implicit more explicit. Red Dead Redemption 2 might be the first video game that warrants such a book and it got the high-quality book that it deserves. The book is refreshing and provides interesting insights without ever being condescending to the game and with loving understanding why some choices have been made. The book is also accessible, has a fast pace and is a great start for every person that wants to learn more on the history of this era after playing the game.

A brief history of the setting of Red Dead Redemption. This would be very similar to an introductory course of Western American history in college. The author introduces a topic, supports his thesis, and quickly moves on to the next. A quick and entertaining read covering 21 topics.

If you're a lover of Red Dead Redemption 2, you'll adore this. You can really tell Tore has a great appreciation for the game. As a rdr2 lover and history lover myself, I couldn't get enough of this book. I mainly listened to the audio book narrated by Arthur Morgan himself, Roger Clark, which I found insanely entertaining. Knowing the historical accuracies and inaccuracies within rdr2 made me somehow appreciate the game even more than I already did. All in all a great time and extremely interesting! Great job, Tore!

My son is a huge fan of Red Red Redemption and I have been very happily suprised how much history he had unwittingly picked up by playing. When I heard about the book coming out, I bought him the audiobook, read by star of the video game and the hardback as well hoping it might entice him. He was out the day the book arrived, so I thought I’d give it a light look through. Right away, I read about history I had no idea about and found the book a great blend of discussing the parts of the game and a deeper dive into what was actually going on at the time (and earlier as the history shown in the game reflect an earlier period than it states). My son and I shared the book back and forth and I really appreciate the book was something he eagerly read during summer break and that it lit the fire in him to want to discuss it with me. As a mom of a teenager, it was a minor miracle and the fact that I was able to enjoyed it, too was great. It was absolutely inspired that Tore took this route to incorporate gaming to explain history first in his class and how he helped his students to a certain level experience certain aspects by pointing out signage in the game and so forth. I wish there were classes like this when I went to college and am very thankful he took the route of writing the book so the understanding could be offered more widely.

Overall, this is a good and fascinating analysis of 1800s America and how it’s portrayed in RDR2. As both someone who played the game and a self-proclaimed history nerd, it was a fascinating read. However, I have two main issues with it. The first is that there is a lot of bias that is mixed into presentation of factual information so that it’s hard to spot, and the second is that the author seems to overlook many parts of the game that would change his conclusions on its historical accuracy. While I think it’s fine for the author to express his political views as they connect to the topics in the book, I think that as someone of his credibility and academic reputation, he has an obligation to clearly denote when he is stating fact and when he is stating his opinion. Throughout the book, he regularly infuses his own political viewpoint into how he presents sometimes controversial historical events in subtle and not well-indicated ways, which in my opinion harms his credibility as an author and the overall points he’s trying to make. For example, in the New Orleans chapter, when discussing the life and death of Robert Charles, an African-American man who acted in self-defense (objectively, this was the case - he pulled out a gun and fired at an officer that had lunged at him, at least according to the book’s description) when attacked by police officers and then fled from a mob for days, the author uses a lot of adjectives that attempt to control how the reader interprets the story. Robert Charles is described in an almost heroic, valiant light, as someone taking “a violent stand” (exact quote) against Jim Crow segregation. While I think this is a reasonable perspective, and personally do agree with some part of it (while I don’t think it was Charles’ intention to challenge Jim Crow, I think he did have the moral high ground, especially due to acting in self-defense), I do not like how the author makes no attempt to separate his personal viewpoint from an objective breakdown of the events. Similar examples are present throughout the book. They make some of his conclusions feel like stretches, as those conclusions come to rely on the assumption that the reader has taken the subjective aspects of the author’s writing as factual information. Come on, Mr. Olsson, you’re a historian - you know the importance of maintaining political neutrality when teaching history. As I wrote earlier, I respect his right to express his personal politics, but he needs to make an effort to distinguish them from the objective information. If an author doesn’t do that - and I hate to throw this buzzword around, but it’s the most accurate term I can think of - then they’re veering into propaganda. Even though I agree with many of Olsson’s opinions, I don’t think they should supersede the need for objectivity. My other main issue with the book is that the author overlooks or doesn’t mention a lot of happenings in the game that would change or even directly contradict his arguments. For example, in the same New Orleans chapter mentioned earlier, Olsson states that in RDR2’s equivalent of New Orleans, Saint Denis, the absence of the French, among other Europeans, is historically inaccurate. However, you can very easily find French-speaking and/or French-accented NPCs all around the city - just greet people on the street, you’ll find them within a minute - and there is an entire multi-part optional quest line where Arthur Morgan helps a Frenchman! In the same chapter yet again, Olsson states that the Van der Linde gang’s shootouts in Saint Denis pale in comparison to specific real-life shootouts between white mobs and African-Americans in New Orleans, in terms of carnage - then in the same breath, lists the casualty figures as in the single digits, conveniently forgetting how he mentioned earlier that the Morgan vs. police shootouts result in dozens upon dozens of casualties. One other thing I’d like to mention, though this is less of an error on Olsson’s part and more a minor consideration I think is worth keeping in mind when reading, is that RDR2’s setting isn’t intended to be a strictly accurate portrayal of the U.S. exactly as it was in 1899. Its goal is more to capture the overall struggles and such of the era of the late 19th century and early 20th; 1899 is the chosen year for the main story because that just works chronologically with the first Red Dead game, and also helps give a measurable reference point to the game’s consistent themes of the “end of an era” and dawn of modernity. Olsson also fails to acknowledge that some of the game’s events can be completed in the epilogue, which is set in 1907 and thus discards some chronological complications that would be present if they were completed in the 1899 part of the game. Taking these factors into account, I don’t believe that the wars between the U.S. military and Native Americans, and presence of the KKK, among other things, are as out of place as Olsson argues, though I certainly understand why he makes that argument. The states are also fictional for good reason - it gives Rockstar a little more freedom to bump things around a few years before or after they happened in real-life states. Olsson does a good job through much of the book of recognizing that it is a game, and as such there is sometimes good reason to make changes from real history; but there are other times where he seems to forget this and expects more from a fictional video game than needed (seriously, it’s really not a big deal that it doesn’t make an explicit statement against racial violence or forces players to listen to the suffragist in Saint Denis. The game has subtle messages about stuff like that anyway, e.g. Arthur gains honor if he wittily insults someone being sexist toward the women’s suffrage protestors). Enough of the negative, though. There’s plenty of positive stuff about this book to go around. For one thing, the ratio of real historical storytelling to game analysis is brilliant. I love the pattern Olsson has mastered of introducing an overall summary of an RDR2 mission, tying it to a real and similar historical event, explaining the deeper causes and ramifications of that event, and then going back to RDR2 and seeing how or if those are reflected. It keeps me engaged from subject to subject, and also provides some satisfaction when I successfully predict how Olsson’s thesis on a real event will tie in to RDR2! Another thing I really enjoy, and hopefully this doesn’t seem vague or weird, is how you can tell this was written by someone passionate about history. I’m a history nerd myself, and I too like writing long paragraphs about subjects I find extremely interesting. Olsson does the same, and it makes it seem like if we somehow happened to meet, we’d be able to talk for hours about history. You can tell this is a fun professor that cares about his field. That’s especially reinforced by the fact that he’s actually gone and played the game, which shows he’s not all bluster like so many inflammatory, clueless misrepresentations of video games these days (like news media’s bizarre attempt to frame RDR2 as a misogynist’s dream because you can punch women in it or something, which is mentioned in a later chapter). I may not agree with all of Olsson’s conclusions, and I certainly think there are a small handful that are straight up incorrect due to being contradicted by the game itself, but I cannot deny that he at least knows the vast majority of what he’s talking about and is qualified to write this book. A last and minor thing to praise, but worth praising nonetheless: The inclusion of historical photos in each chapter is pretty nice. Overall, I’d certainly recommend this book for anyone that really likes RDR2, history, or both. Just do read it with some caution in order to make sure you’re distinguishing between objective information and the author’s opinion. It’s tempting to absorb it all as truth if you agree with his politics - believe me, I’d know - but if you do, I think it will ultimately diminish the overall lessons.

A great introduction for people who are interested in how historical myths influence video games, and how video games influence history.

I bought Red Dead’s History for my son, who’s absolutely obsessed with the games, and he hasn’t put it down since. It’s packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes details, historical context, and artwork that really bring the world of Red Dead to life. The writing is engaging enough to keep him hooked for hours, and even I found myself flipping through just to admire the visuals. A must-have for anyone who loves the series and wants to dive deeper into its story and inspirations.

Such a great book, it enriches the gameplay and the overall understanding of RDD2.

This book is incredible way to show how the creators of the game leaned on American history to create the in game lore. Wonderful read

I knew I would find this book interesting even before ordering it, but having read it now it exceeds my expectations. Riveting, well structured and highly relevant to anyone interested in US history, not only to fans of RDR2.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I wanted to learn more about the history of the American west. Being a big RDR2 fan, using the context of the game alongside real events helped me paint a picture of what life was like in 1899 America. The book doesn’t talk about the events of the game at length, it focuses more on the real life story and comparing the two narratives. I’d certainly recommended it, couldn’t put the book down.