Tore C. Olsson

I'm a historian of the United States after the Civil War; I'm especially fascinated by the South, by agriculture and rural America, and the connections between the U.S. and distant lands. I'm a firm believer that professional historians like myself should make their work accessible and meaningful to non-academic readers. My new book, RED DEAD'S HISTORY: A VIDEO GAME, AN OBSESSION, AND AMERICA'S VIOLENT PAST (coming summer 2024), is a byproduct of this belief. It uses the wildly popular Red Dead Redemption games to explore the history of violence, capitalism, and inequality in the U.S. between 1870 and 1920. My first book, from 2017, AGRARIAN CROSSINGS: REFORMERS AND THE REMAKING OF THE US AND MEXICAN COUNTRYSIDE, is a scholarly monograph revealing the entangled histories of agricultural and agrarian reform in the U.S. South and Mexico. It was the winner of five national and international awards, and is now available in paperback and hardcover. I am also working on a book titled THE GLOBAL COWBOY, which explores the unexpected history of how American country music won millions of fans across the world from the 1930s to present.