Simon Schama

Simon Schama's books include Patriots and Liberators: Revolution and Government in the Netherlands 1780-1813 (1977); Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel (1979), The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; (1987) Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989), Landscape and Memory (1995); Rembrandt’s Eyes (1999); the History of Britain trilogy (2000-2002); Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution (2006), and The Power of Art (2007).

From his Q & A with Boyd Tonkin for The Independent:

Choose a favourite author and say why you like him/her

Italo Svevo. I return to 'Confessions of Zeno' every few years. It's poignant, clumsy, elegant, funny - and the greatest novel ever written about failing to give up smoking.

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Which fictional character most resembles you?

It has to be [AA Milne's] Tigger.

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Who is your hero/ heroine from outside literature?

[Philosopher and theologian] Martin Buber. Because for him the core of being Jewish is an understanding of other people. "I-Thou": to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

Read the complete Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue