Who is Lawrence Samuel Shaw?
Lawrence has had a passion for history since he was a child. He has studied, poured over and digested everything he could about the events and characters who brought us to where we are now. Having deep insight into the consequences these event have had and how history repeats itself, he writes captivating novels that leave you thinking.
Author’s Words
“I am drawn to create characters with strengths and flaws, some of which I possess, and some I do not, and wished I did, or am thankful not to have. I believe if I can relate to the character so will my readers. I combine this with my fascination with history. Some authors start with the story and research the history, but as a lifelong historian, I begin with the time period and characters from which a story develops that realistically reflects that time.”
The Books
In my Hitler novel I questioned what Hitler was like as a boy, as a young man, as a soldier in Flanders during WWI. There are several nonfiction books on Hitler, but none of them does more than hint at his psychology and aspects of his life before entering politics, that he kept secret. This provoked my interest in figuring out why. My novel is the conclusion I came to, of the very possible scenarios he hid. It describes in graphic detail, his sexuality, how he lived in Vienna and Munich prior to the first world war, and why and how he rose to power by being a fanatic antisemite.
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In "Ocean Waves," I tell the story of Cyrus Hawkins, a 1696 London lad, who is arrested for stealing a pair of pants. Typical of that era, the judge sentences him to become an indentured servant in colonial America, travelling there as a British navy sailor. My novel details the lives of 17th century Londoners, seamen, African slaves and their masters, leading to a surprising plot climax. This novel illustrates that despite the vast cultural differences between that world and ours, we can relate to the assortment of colorful character types because character doesn’t change.
In "The Choice I Made" David Gates, born David Goldenberg, is a top Hollywood director of the 1940's and 50's whose Communist Party affiliation during the depression years comes back to complicate his life in 1952. He gives in to pressure to cooperate by exposing fellow leftists to the McCarthy era's antisemitic, right-wing House Un-American Committee (HUAC), thus ruining their lives and saving his own. The novel, written in the first person, as David Gates' justification for his controversial action. The book examines why he should not have sacrificed his colorful career that was largely the consequence of common sense, for the sake of unrepentant communists.