The Conversation: Why I Turned the ‘Red Dead Redemption II’ Video Game into a History Class on America’s Violent Past

"This course was born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Confronting the lockdowns of 2020 and uncertain months spent at home, I rekindled a high school hobby that I had neglected for two decades - video gaming."

"One of the first games I picked up was Red Dead Redemption II, set in a fictionalized America of 1899. The game follows the Van der Linde gang, a diverse crew of idealistic outlaws, as they flee authority in an increasingly ordered and hierarchical world."

"It wasn't long into my playthrough that an epiphany struck me. Given how wildly popular this game was with college-age Americans, why not try teaching a serious history course that used the fictional content of the games as a springboard to jump into some of the thorniest dilemmas of the American past?"

As part of The Conversation's Uncommon Courses series, Associate Professor of History Torre Olsson answers questions about his course Red Dead's History: Exploring America's Violent Past Through the Hit Video Game. Read the full article at The Conversation.

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