Red Dead Redemption and America's Violent Past - Dr. Tore Olsson

Dr. Lynn Price Robbins and Isaac S. Loftus are joined by Dr. Tore Olsson to explore the wildly popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2. How does it reflect the history of the West, a world of the first megacorporations, the labor movement, and infamous characters like Jesse James? And what can we learn from it today? Please support this podcast by checking out our patreon: www.patreon.com/primarysourcemedia TRANSCRIPT: coming soon  OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 3:10 - How Historically Accurate is Red Dead Redemption? 8:45 - Biggest Inaccuracies 14:44 - Disputes Over Capitalism 17:06 - Defining the American West 18:43 - How Did This Become a College Course? 30:44 - Was the Course Effective? 32:51 - History Has a Lot of Lore and Crafting a Book 34:40 - 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition 41:37 - The Anxiety of a Changing System and Losing Masculinity 45:56 - TR’s Obsession with American Masculinity 47:40 - The Role of the Transcontinental Railroad 51:15 - Who Were the Pinkertons? 55:41 - The Southern Stories  01:00:35 - The Fictionalization of the Time Period 01:03:01 - Audiobook Version! 01:04:46 - Historic Sites to Visit and Where you can find Tore EPISODE LINKS: Tore Olsson – https://history.utk.edu/person/olsson-tore/ Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past – https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250287700/reddeadshistory Audiobook - https://www.audible.com/pd/Red-Deads-History-Audiobook/B0CKM6FB83 Red Dead Redemption 2 – https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/red-dead-redemption-2 Pinkerton Detective Agency – https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pinkerton-National-Detective-Agency Labor Movement – https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-federation-of-labor-records/articles-and-essays/timeline/ Jesse James – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesse-James-and-Frank-James Wild Bill Hickok – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wild-Bill-Hickok John D. Rockefeller – https://www.britannica.com/money/John-D-Rockefeller Dr. Olsson’s class - https://history.utk.edu/tore-olsson-in-the-conversation-why-i-turned-the-red-dead-redemption-ii-video-game-into-a-history-class-on-americas-violent-past/ Oregon Trail – https://oregontrail.ws Chicago World’s Fair – https://www.britannica.com/event/Worlds-Columbian-Exposition Frederick Jackson Turner – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Jackson-Turner Theodore Roosevelt – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodore-Roosevelt History of “Dude” – https://blog.oup.com/2022/12/dude-a-long-history-of-a-short-word/ Allen Pinkerton – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Allan-Pinkerton Lynching of Sicilians in New Orleans – https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1148&context=hon_thesis Deadwood, South Dakota – https://www.deadwood.com/  PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: 2c4hpod.com Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2-complicated-4-history/id1664183536 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3svQpZfxhVQnYJMESpp842?si=514780ada34d4aab Full episodes playlist:    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2x56DEw1y7EYWxfufgfSR951RrdsXet&si=TuDcpAjaeQx-vjkH SOCIAL: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/2c4h_Podcast - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2c4hPodcast - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2c4h_podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices