Born on the 4th of July

Beatrice Michaels Shapiro’s book is a memoir of an extraordinary woman who despite decades of hardship and tragedy, including her unremitting devotion to her two developmentally disabled sons, managed to become an accomplished writer of numerous moving and poignant newspaper and magazine articles and books. In a collection of short articles and a few poems, she depicts with a very observing eye, milestones in her life as well as her thoughts and feelings about society. She describes her life in the Winfield Sanitarium at the age of six, of growing up in a lower income family in an Eastern European Jewish neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, of her mother’s hilarious Yiddish sayings and proverbs, of her great fondness for her immigrant parents and of their Passover Seders. As a teenager she and a few school friends were very bold and successful autograph seekers. Later she recalls her 40th high school class reunion and the nostalgia it evoked. But the decades included a long and difficult struggle nurturing her two handicapped sons and teaching the younger one to read. Shapiro’s excellent style of writing and her crisp storytelling leads to a most touching account of the life of a most dedicated and talented woman. Dr. Irving Cutler Author of The Jews of Chicago Professor Emeritus, Chicago State University