" g+ M/ r# s9 @6 c$ `3 R, i冯克现任香港大学教授，是不多的几个获准可以利用中国官方历史档案的学者之一。 , V$ D( U, b G5 ? ]+ A8 h6 ]0 _9 g6 z
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。- o2 U/ r v+ e( y! T
% h7 K. i7 D3 j* P+ l- A& X' a! d D % `0 N' ` c( A% ^3 @" a0 |冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 2 u0 v7 |0 J$ c1 P( Z 9 X/ t; L, s4 v9 y0 R/ [! [" JMao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize" f8 t0 a! q$ e
6 D6 {0 a1 f0 y- O; k' l3 q1 xA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. 0 B) }" K/ F& }- d; e3 Z, K T 5 \, ^2 Z- X' ]7 B' K4 AMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.+ o X* D8 R. j1 K, l+ k" Y
8 \1 k3 d3 ^1 m: G8 t' _Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". 9 _& D" ^- n- m1 J # W# }$ |# P7 Z$ g: Z4 yHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".* R& w0 t3 N$ ^ e: q
0 H0 t" s5 v: s1 L
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. a% w6 ` g6 ~' ^; p% Z D2 y
- g+ T( j5 C9 w5 V, ], X6 u3 WThe 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.8 U+ x! x7 {* C& b5 \9 @( {
7 l% H( w- e+ w8 P: U dThis 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.+ D! H3 z8 M Y4 Y. a1 P
' p% d8 Y2 b4 z! b( l! X
They each received £1,000./ ^7 H) J( i1 z
( B* ~1 f/ U' D( E
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
