After an international upbringing, she attended Cornell University, where she received her BA in history in 1992. She received her MA and PhD (2000) from Duke University, where she studied British, Imperial, and Canadian history and historical geography. Her ﬁrst book, Builders of Empire: Freemasonry and British Imperialism, 1717-1927, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2007. She has published articles in The Journal of British Studies, The Geographical Review and Atlantic Studies, and a new article will appear in the forthcoming volume of the Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism.