Please join us for a lecture by Dr. Tore Olsson, University of Tennessee-Knoxville. 

Red Dead’s History: How a Video Game Can Help Us Understand America’s Violent Past
 
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 lecture, 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. 
 
Tore Olsson is an associate professor of history at the University of Tennessee. He is a specialist on US history since the Civil War and its global implications, and is the author of Red Dead’s History (2025) and Agrarian Crossings (2017).