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 in July 2022. Click on a title for more information.
Additional resources for instructors are available for many titles. Visit the Reacting Consortium website for more information.

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 B.C.E.
By Josiah Ober , Naomi J. Norman , Mark C. Carnes
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1861-1864
By Marsha Driscoll , Elizabeth E. Dunn , Dann Siems , B. Kamran Swanson
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

The Trial of Galileo
Aristotelianism, the "New Cosmology," and the Catholic Church, 1616–1633
By Michael S. Pettersen , Frederick Purnell, Jr. , Mark C. Carnes
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022

Japan, 1941
Between Pan-Asianism and the West
Reacting to the Past™
Published: July 2022