Reacting to the Past is an award–winning series of immersive role-playing games that actively engage students in their own learning. Students assume the roles of historical characters and practice critical thinking, primary source analysis, and argument, both written and spoken. Reacting games are flexible enough to be used across the curriculum, from first-year general education classes and discussion sections of lecture classes to capstone experiences, intersession courses, and honors programs.
Reacting to the Past was originally developed under the auspices of Barnard College and is sustained by the Reacting Consortium of colleges and universities. The Consortium hosts a regular series of conferences and events to support faculty and administrators.
UNC Press is proud to now be the publisher of Reacting to the Past game books, as of July 1, 2022. For more information on the transition, including book schedules, placing course adoption orders, and more, please contact Dino Battista at dino.battista@uncpress.org.
Examination copies and desk copies information (including how to request FREE electronic exam and desk copies) can be found on our For Educators page.
A list of currently available books is below–as well as the titles we have in process to be available following July 2022. Click on a title for more information.
Additional resources for instructors are available for many titles. Instructors do not need to be members of the Reacting Consortium to access these basic instructor materials for published games. All is needed is to set up an instructor account (to prevent students from accessing the role sheets, etc). Here’s the link for creating a non-member account.
Instructors are, however, encouraged to become members, and membership is offered at a minimal cost.
Visit the Reacting Consortium website for more information.
You are also invited to subscribe to the UNC Press RTTP email list. You’ll recieve email alerts whenever new game books are published. To subscribe, click this link.

Greenwich Village, 1913, Second Edition
Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman
Reacting to the Past™
Published: April 2023

Democracy in Crisis
Weimar Germany, 1929-1932
Reacting to the Past™
Published: January 2023

Monuments and Memory-Making
The Debate over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1981-1982
By M. Rebecca Livingstone , Kelly McFall , Abigail Perkiss
Reacting to the Past™
Published: January 2023

Red Clay, 1835
Cherokee Removal and the Meaning of Sovereignty
By Jace Weaver , Laura Adams Weaver
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Changing the Game
Title IX, Gender, and College Athletics
By Kelly McFall , Abigail Perkiss
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Greenwich Village, 1913
Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Mexico in Revolution, 1912-1920
By Jonathan Truitt , Stephany Slaughter
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Forest Diplomacy
Cultures in Conflict on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1757
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791
By Jennifer J. Popiel , Mark C. Carnes
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

The Threshold of Democracy
Athens in 403 BCE
By Josiah Ober , Naomi J. Norman , Mark C. Carnes
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022