GTA Series Gets Its Own College Course: American History Through San Andreas & More
The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series is soon headed from your gaming console to the classroom. A Tennessee university will offer a course next year treating GTA as a case study in American culture and history, taught by history professor Tor Olson.
The course aims to examine U.S. history from the 1980s up to the present, using the potent mix of satire, narrative, and social commentary that the GTA games provide. While Olson acknowledges that the games often get their history wrong, misrepresenting more than they accurately depict, he believes there are still meaningful lessons to draw – especially in how GTA reflects American society across decades.
One focal point will be GTA: San Andreas, which is set in a fictional version of Los Angeles in 1992. The game follows Carl “CJ” Johnson, who returns to his home neighborhood after a time away, only to draw into gang conflicts, corruption, and social unrest. One of the narrative arcs climaxes with widespread urban rebellion after police misconduct is covered up, including a news anchor ominously declaring, “Los Santos will burn tonight.”
Interestingly, Olson had hoped to use GTA 6 in the course materials, but the game is delayed until 2026, making it unavailable for the upcoming academic term.
This isn’t entirely new territory for Professor Olson. He previously taught a similar course using Red Dead Redemption to highlight the history of the American West. Now with GTA, he’s turning his lens toward urban America, social justice, cultural change, and the many ways fiction, satire, and pop culture reflect—and distort—real historical experiences.
The class blends analysis of game content with broader discussions: what GTA gets right, what it exaggerates, and what it omits. For students and fan theorists alike, this course offers a chance to think critically about games—not just as entertainment, but as mirrors of history, identity, and society.
