Alvin Jackson is Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously Professor of Modern Irish History at the Queen's University of Belfast, Lecturer in Modern Irish History at University College Dublin and John Burns Visiting Professor at Boston College. His earlier publications include The Ulster Party (1989), Colonel Edward Saunderson: Land and Loyalty in Victorian Ireland (1995) and Home Rule: An Irish History 1800-2000 (2003).