Playing at War: Identity and Memory in Civil War Video Games

by Patrick A. Lewis (Editor), James Hill Welborn (editor), Daniel Farrell (contributor)

451 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 19, 2024

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who grew up pouring hours upon hours into the 1990s Civil War video games such as "Sid Meier's Gettysburg!" and "Civil War Generals 2" to feed my then-nascent interest in the period with these games, this book of essays was in parts nostalgic, highly interesting, and in some ways challenging. It's exciting to see a generation of historians come together to treat video games as a serious medium for historical memory and interpretation in the same way that literature and film have been studied for decades. Be advised that this is very much an academic work, not a work of popular history, but if you have a deep interest in the Civil War era and an appreciation for video games from "The Oregon Trail" to "Red Dead Redemption 2", this is a really interesting and engaging book.

[John Lustrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to revisit a lot of the games I played growing up through a critical lens. I think the authors made a compelling case for historians to take video games seriously as a source of education and memory study. Not all of the essays were as good in my opinion, but overall it was a fun read. Also Red Dead Redemption 2 is the big winner.