Recent and current research areas include: Modern British; European and North American history; especially 16th- and 17th- century social history; Dutch history of 16th century; 17th- and 18th- century British and European history; Austro-Hungarian Empire and succession states; Russian and Soviet history 1861-1945; 19th-century American history; 20th-century American history; early 19th- and 20th- century British political; intellectual and social history; 19th-century urban history; British railway history; modern Scottish history; environmental history.