Major funding for Backstories provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

For Virginia Humanities, this is Backstories.

Welcome to Backstories, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines. I'm Nathan Connelly.

I'm Ed Ayers.

And I'm Brian Ballow.

If you're new to the podcast, we enjoy and frame interal historians. In each week, we explore a different aspect of American history.

You know, Ed, as historians were used to encounter unfamiliar worlds, we encounter them through texts and through literature, but Backstories producer Matt Dero recently persuaded us to put down those books and pick up a controller.

Thereby, experiencing history, at least for me, in a very new way.

You know, Brian, I still think Matt was looking for a creative excuse to bring his Xbox to work, but nevertheless, you and I were excited to be introduced to the Old West as imagined by the smash hit video game, red dead redemption too.

And the game's not always historically accurate, but it certainly was thrilling to encounter the past through this new medium.

So as you can see, you can go to a saloon here, play poker, that kind of stuff.

Where's the library?

There's a library. There's a gun shop here.

Oh, good.

I've been for the saloon, that sounds entertaining.

Wow.

Okay. Now I walk towards the doors.

Absolutely.

Well, you walk up the steps themselves.

Come on, go through the swing and doors.

Okay.

There's a barber over there as well, if you want to cut your hair.

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