Roger Clark, who plays Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, is set to narrate an audiobook that looks at American history through the lens of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption games.
Clark narrates historian Tore Olsson’s ‘Red Dead’s History’ in character as Arthur Morgan, protagonist of Rockstar’s critically acclaimed open-world epic.
Red Dead’s History explores the “wildly dramatic and gritty world” of America from 1870 to 1920. 2010’s Red Dead Redemption and its prequel, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2, set in 1911 and 1899 respectively, were praised for their authentic portrayal of life during the decline of the American frontier. In the book, Olsson digs into the detail presented in the games and adds context from real-world American history.
Here’s the official blurb:
“Weaving together the fictional characters and plot of the Red Dead Redemption games with real-life historical vignettes, Olsson reveals that the action-packed violence of the Red Dead universe isn’t just spawned from Hollywood westerns but rooted in real sociopolitical issues from turn-of-the-century America.”
IGN spoke with college history professor Tore Olsson, who as well as writing books teaches the world’s first Red Dead Redemption history class at the University of Tennessee, to discuss the work. (Check out the interview in full for a fascinating look into the Red Dead Redemption games and their historical “thoughtfulness”, as Olsson puts it.) Here’s a snippet:
“It came as an epiphany when I sat down in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, and played Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time. I was only about 10 hours in, and all these historical nodes in my brain are firing left and right. I can’t turn off my historian identity when I’m playing. And I’m really genuinely surprised at how historically thoughtful the games were. I’m not so much obsessed with this question of accuracy that gets bandied around a lot, when you talk about historical video games. I’m more interested in thoughtfulness and the ways a game tries to capture the mood and the feeling and the range of options and the realities of a time period. And I thought the game did a surprisingly good job at that.”
IGN also spoke to Roger Clark himself, who revealed why he wanted to be involved with the project, discussed the making of Red Dead Redemption 2, and teased what’s next.
The audiobook edition of Red Dead’s History will be published by Macmillan Audio on August 6, 2024 and will be available at Audible, Apple Books, or wherever audiobooks are sold.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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