" G& W# `* x# P6 k& V$ Y0 S塞缪尔·约翰逊奖是一个面对世界各国学者的非小说类英文作品的文学奖项，奖金为两万英镑。7 `. H/ j( _( j9 ]- W; \* F
( j/ \0 K ?- I; L1 U
! E) \' C; r; Z; g $ y' _1 B, \. ]1 w
冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。! g# [3 c7 v8 L1 e6 E
* v# _% g i8 ?. z
Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize 8 |! x( O* E5 k' H& Y $ s$ V) F( y- ?6 i; e5 fA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.4 M8 ?* Q: @* t l! O
/ B; {7 W8 S+ x/ _# b
Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.; `, }! w& z. i3 r6 M
, \( |0 d- R: c) m
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". ( |& w4 X* M% `" j( K& u2 f8 y3 g& A+ a; Y
He added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". 9 |0 Y& @1 V4 z6 ]4 j9 ?6 z5 x8 y+ R A2 K9 n5 P/ f
Mao's Great Famine reveals new details of the period from 1958-1962, providing fresh historical perspectives on Mao's campaign to increase industrial production during which tens of millions starved to death." Y7 E! n: y O
# S( d* ?& J" k6 V% qThe academic - currently chair of professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong - was one of a small number of historians to be given access into the Chinese archives.9 C7 c% N7 o1 P1 A3 h
0 n) |" X7 ]5 T, z. S+ [; r2 fThis year's runners-up were Andrew Graham Dixon's Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, Maya Jasanoff's Liberty's Exiles, Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist, Jonathan Steinberg's Bismarck: A Life, and John Stubbs' Reprobates.) z$ [; o- h: w8 Q+ `+ A" r: z
" m- V$ G ]+ v' Z9 L) rThey each received £1,000. # U$ c& @5 h' Y6 F0 n & k& O: O; a. s, ^# DThe prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
$ y' _1 B, \. ]1 w