Lawrence Samuel Shaw

Lawrence Samuel Shaw was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and later Long Island. The son of a lawyer and a homemaker, his childhood was influenced by having an autistic older brother. The silver lining of this tragedy is that it sensitized him to the phenomenon of abnormal psychology. Of eastern European Jewish descent, Shaw was brought up with the stories of relatives lost in the holocaust, which sparked his interest in the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. History became the strongest of his intellectual interests and eventually the subject of his bachelor's degree. Graduating during a recession where teaching jobs were scarce, Lawrence pursued a Master's Degree in public administration, which led to a career in New York State government service. During this career, Shaw became interested in acting, piano playing and performing stand-up comedy which led to a side career in show business where he got to know author Norman Mailer and comedian Jackie Mason, each of them inspiring his desire to make his own creative influence on the world. He acted for a while and made a number of comedic films. He put on a one man show on the life of comedian Groucho Marx. Later while enrolled in a writer's workshop, he adapted the idea that the talent underlying acting is similar to the one underlying writing, and he decided to pursue writing. He worked years on this craft, Before the Books Were Burned is his first published novel. The next two are on the way.