Tore Olsson

Tore Olsson is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in American History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He specializes in post-1865 US history, focusing on digital popular culture, political economy, transnational history, and the US South. His affiliations include the Department of History within the College of Arts and Sciences. He has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Social Science Research Council, and others.

• Ph.D., University of Georgia, 2013
• BA, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2004

His research explores intersections between historical narratives and modern media, particularly video games. Recent work includes Red Dead’s History (2024), analyzing Red Dead Redemption games’ portrayal of American violence, and Agrarian Crossings (2017), which won multiple awards. He examines how agrarian reforms in the US and Mexico during the Cold War reshaped rural landscapes.

Olsson’s articles address topics like video game historiography, Southern global connections, and Cold War-era agricultural policies. His current projects involve using video games to explore post-1970s US political economy and Cold War-era American country music’s global spread.

• Awards: Bernath Book Prize, Tomassini Book Award, Saloutos Book Prize

Teaching includes courses on video game history, food systems, and Latin American social history. He advises graduate students in transnational history, US South studies, and digital humanities.

He co-leads public-facing research initiatives, including experimental courses and media collaborations. His lab focuses on digital humanities projects linking historical scholarship with contemporary gaming and cultural analysis.