I am an historian of the United States and France. My research interests include the histories of anti-Catholicism and anticlericalism, Church/State relations and secularism in the nineteenth century. In addition, I have published several works exploring the history of masculinity, with a particular focus on the body and sexuality. 

My new area of research is the history of popular petitioning in the nineteenth century.

I have published three books. In 2018 I published Sexual Crime, Religion and Masculinity in Fin-de-Siècle France: the Flamidien Affair. Drawing on untapped archival records, this book explored the clash between republicans and Catholics when, in 1899, a Catholic teaching brother was accused of murdering a school student.

My new book is Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America. Drawing on mass petitions to Congress, the book delves into a series of Church/State controversies, and argues that secularism was a vital and flourishing force in nineteenth-century America.