How do the portraits of a nation celebrated figures shape that nation's image of itself?

Simon Shama looks at portraiture, history and identity in his book The Face of Britain.

You somehow look at this painting, you may not know any of the backstory about pain and

redemption and duty and virtue, and you still are somehow incredibly immediately affected

and engaged and gripped and feel powerfully in the presence of this particular man.

What do Salman Rushdie, Bill Clinton, Lauren McCall and Tony Morrison have in common?

They all answered to the same legendary editor.

Robert Gottlieb is here to talk about his memoir, Avid Reader.

Finally, I had this vision of 22.

I called Joe in the morning and said, I've got it, 22.

It's even funnier than 18.

Also, literary news and what we and other people are reading.

This is Inside the New York Times Booker View.

I'm Pamela Paul.

When Britain's National Portrait Gallery opened its doors in 1856, the plan was for it to

be more than a museum.

It was both a history lesson and a press release designed to tell the British people who

they were, as author Simon Shama puts it.

His new book on the National Portrait Gallery and its vast collection is called The Face

of Britain, a history of the nation through its portraits.

I'm so happy to have Simon with me now.

Simon, thanks for being here.

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