Born to Christian medical-missionary parents, Bourke was brought up in New Zealand, Zambia, Solomon Islands and Haiti.
Bourke, who describes herself as a "socialist feminist",[7] has published 13 books and over 100 articles in academic journals or edited collections.
Her books include ones on British, Irish, American, Australia, and Haitian history from the late eighteenth century to the present.
Her books have been translated into Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Turkish, and Greek.
Bourke is a frequent contributor to television and radio, a blogger and tweeter, and a regular correspondent for newspapers and popular journals.