x4 T- M; c: s) K这本名为《毛的大饥荒Mao's Great Famine》一书的作者是荷兰历史学家冯克(Frank Dikotter),他是在战胜了其他五名候选人后获奖的。4 M; P; X3 x& q) @8 S8 m
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评审团主席马辛泰尔赞扬这本书是对“人类愚蠢念头的史诗性记录”。 ; w t. V W E1 }; `4 C) Q- O/ d' S: A% Y
他还说,对于任何要了解20世纪历史的人来说,“这是一本必读之书”。: ~: a% D2 L( c" r% E4 d9 ^% \
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冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 6 [+ G: `8 a, {1 p; j% t 7 [. D. u' b9 K0 t( [8 @, iMao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize . Y) w$ k9 e' z) x2 {% x& |5 d4 P & l* q. V, h N( Q# ZA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.- x/ d1 G+ t# B8 u1 W
3 M% W3 V4 W) p0 g: ^1 o) aMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. , g7 g$ e9 g5 G, D9 B; F8 D7 M; h7 [! G/ B: X2 y, R/ ?! {
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". ! G M. m' x: b 8 p3 K! [6 \ x/ e, h2 K; eHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". 6 m& f! v; k3 ~6 B; o# B & d" p! T- W P. D, P+ eMao'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., Q" Q: ^& }) j
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The 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. # y1 P( O" w- ]. O: X0 \2 z( J r2 j; m. g; t
This 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.* b7 m8 P" T/ z( L5 @$ \2 G% I
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They each received £1,000. $ r# h; c' ~$ u& k; D# f/ T4 C: w, P0 z1 k5 Q, S7 ]
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.