[1] She studied general and Jewish history at Tel Aviv University, completing her Ph.D. in 1974 under Professor Daniel Carpi.

She is a member of the editorial board of the Jewish Review of Books, academic co-editor with Prof. Steven J. Zipperstein of the biography series "Jewish Lives" published by Yale University Press, and academic co-editor with Prof. Derek J. Penslar of the Journal of Israeli History.

Shapira's research focuses on the political, cultural, social, intellectual and military history of the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv) and Israel.

Shapira's last book, Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, strives to get to the core of the complex man who would become the face of the new Jewish nation.

Her first book, based on her doctoral dissertation, Hama’avak Hanihzav: Avoda Ivrit 1929-1939 (The Futile Struggle: Hebrew Work 1929-1939), deals with the social and political history of the Yishuv in the 1920s and 1930s, including the controversies on policy towards the Arab population and the conflicts between left and right on the means for achieving Zionist goals.

Focusing on a major figure in the Labor Zionist movement, this book portrays the history, society and culture of the Yishuv from the Second Aliyah to the end of World War II.

During work on a biography of Yigal Allon, Shapira became interested in the role of force in the Zionist movement, initially inspired by an article by Menachem Begin during the 1982 Lebanon War on “A War of Choice.” This resulted in a book, Herev Hayona: Hatziyonut vehakoah, 1881-1948 (Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948).