Schapiro, Amy 1970-

views updated

SCHAPIRO, Amy 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born 1970, in NJ. Education: Earned M.A. (history).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and civil servant. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, social science analyst.

WRITINGS:

Millicent Fenwick: Her Way, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Amy Schapiro is the author of the first full-length biography of Millicent Fenwick, the New Jersey congresswoman who served as the inspiration for "Doonsbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau's character Lacey Davenport. Fenwick rose from an affluent background and a job as a Vogue editor to become an active participant in both local government and the civil rights movement, and became an outspoken, liberal Republican congresswoman at the age of sixty-four. Appointed to a position in the United Nations in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan, Fenwick "is best remembered as an idiosyncratic, witty, pipe-smoking aristocrat of impeccable integrity," explained Library Journal contributor Cynthia Harrison.

Discussing her motivation for writing her book, which was sparked by a college history assignment, Schapiro noted in an interview posted on the Rutgers University Press Web site: "I think a lot can be learned from Fenwick's life that I hope would inspire others interested in pursuing a life of public service. I think she embodies the type of politician the public is yearning for—a candid, straight-talking, sincere, and hardworking elected official. Because she led such a full life, I wanted to give readers the whole picture of who she was and how that shaped her as a public figure. I want the reader to see her as more than a caricature, as someone who made a difference." Noting that Schapiro shows her skills as a "dogged researcher"—Schapiro was granted rights to Fenwick's personal papers and effects by the late congresswoman's son, Hugh Fenwick—and a writer who avoids "authorial polemics," Hill contributor Deborah Kalb added that the author "has succeeded in creating an entertaining portrait of a unique American politician."