History between the Lines

Red Dead Redemption and the American West

Jonathan Brown Season 7 Episode 5

Professor John Wills joins me to talk about the Red Dead Redemption video game series. Set during the American West in a virtual world in which players can rob a stagecoach or go fishing, how true are the Red Dead games to what life was like on the frontier and how do they fit into the culture of the "Wild West"?

To learn more about Red Dead's relationship with the American West, please do purchase the book "Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth and Violence in the Video Game West", edited by Professor Wills and Esther Wright.

Cover artwork: "Comfort of a Bed of Roses" by James Gillray, courtesy of Look and Learn History Picture Archive.

Music by Lexin Music from Pixabay.