Dean M. Shapiro is a New Orleans-based freelance writer and journalist with close to 40 years of experience in his field. He is also a publicist, copy editor, and author with four published books and more than 1,500 newspaper, magazine and web articles to his credit. His career as a journalist dates back to the late 1960s when, as a sophomore in college, he reported award-winning stories from the anti-war protests in Washington, D.C.Mr. Shapiro co-authored The Blood Covenant with Rena Chynoweth, one of the 13 wives of polygamist cult leader Ervil LeBaron. Nicknamed the "Mormon Manson," LeBaron, ordered the murders of 2 dozen people, including members of his own family. The book, released by Diamond Books/Eakin Press, was the subject of a 1993 CBS made-for-TV movie, Prophet of Evil: The Ervil LeBaron Story starring Brian Dennehy, William Devane, and Tracey Needham.
Mr. Shapiro also co-authored the novelization of the critically acclaimed feature film, Belizaire the Cajun, a work of fiction set in the bayous of southern Louisiana in 1859. The novel, co-written with the film's director, Glen Pitre, was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Pelican Publishing Company of New Orleans in 1988.
His third book, Blondin, is a biography of the first man ever to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope in the mid-19th century. It was published by Vanwell Publishing Ltd. of St. Catherines, Ontario in 1990.
His fourth book, The Eleventh Commandment, a suspense novel, was published in 2008 by PublishAmerica of Baltimore.
He also has been contracted to write essays and biographies for several junior and senior high school history and geography textbooks in recent years. Mr. Shapiro is the author of ten screenplays and he ghostwrote Mackie Shilstone's Body Plan for Kids, due to be published in the spring of 2009 by Basic Media of Laguna Beach, CA. He teaches writing classes at the University of New Orleans and writes regularly for several New Orleans-area publications and websites.