Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past Hardcover – August 6, 2024

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.

My grandson is going to flip out!! He loves learning and playing the game!! I was so excited to find that there was an actual book out there! Thank you, thank you! This book will definitely put a huge smile on his face!!

I adore this book, it was such a good companion read along with Blood Meridian (and playing the game, of course) I read it and I had the audiobook as well, an experience I recommend for all Red Dead fans because Roger Clark, Arthur Morgan himself, does the narration. While reading this book, it felt as if I was taking a college course on the study of the game with real history. The author was knowledgable on the subject matter and it made for a great reading experience.

I was attracted to this book through articles that suggest it was a little heavier on the red dead aspect of history rather than just a few anecdotes. While it was informative, it's more history than red dead and doesn't really draw any sort of comparisons that a red dead fan would really like to know.

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.

A very interesting book about pockets of U.S. history. You don't need to be familiar with the video game for the book to be worthwhile. The game is a mcguffin to talk about bits of history you probably didn't learn in school. Chapters are self contained, so you can read it in different sittings.

I absolutely enjoyed this book. I'm not a big history person but love RDR I & II, and I thought each chapter was thoughtfully written giving readers a small history lesson on tangible events that go on in the games. My curiosity has opened to wanting to know more about this era. Thank you, Tore Olsson!

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.