He earned an A.B. in History from the City College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Michigan. He has been an Exchange Fellow at the Institute for Irish Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast; a Fulbright Junior Lecturer at the University of Florence; and a Fulbright Senior Lecturer at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In addition, he has lectured at Helsinki University, the University of Verona and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He has held research fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, Notre Dame University and the New York Historical Society.