0 b% b% G8 O4 T4 i4 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。 . I$ m# u4 ~' d; D6 r4 c3 e2 G8 a9 O8 e9 u$ C& F3 Z* l
, c0 f% c( y% v0 t6 }- U0 ] 9 |4 {+ C2 U" Z冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 . B- r- p, q7 n) ~$ S 6 ^' Q8 u& u( f/ YMao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize* g' g d5 m$ R! ~" m2 K" J0 d! K4 m
6 P- Y* Q& M0 P9 F- x+ f
A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.$ S7 c1 @5 q) ^8 q3 m- K; i
+ f' @- m' y4 w$ \1 p+ VMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.8 t: D$ v5 i9 H0 d* E* i5 z
. s0 L+ |5 R$ @( @$ \# F- B4 F# y
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". 6 D- ^* }9 B$ L" V7 {% x. u9 @: X' v . I9 M, h2 p) BHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". . N. P z0 K+ j" Z5 ?/ u. e. v % B* N6 {8 d3 {0 F; hMao'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.) g3 w: n5 b' [; h. @
, c& S/ w8 E' S
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. 5 p. v/ x5 _1 }/ S) c9 s; [, ?3 |. Z0 {2 G+ j1 X( O
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. , [* K( W x9 B $ @( u# F9 i0 L- Z4 P: w& ]They each received £1,000. 6 h* B$ x4 Q+ ^1 L( o% q" A5 B; V4 o- U1 W; `* |0 c
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
