6 w! B- z X$ A; n. F3 h7 q. v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。& \# |9 _: K% b- [
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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。" m/ i2 `9 d/ [$ Q3 s
' w% {! I4 C. D1 J2 q : h$ j2 d7 f, f/ R ' e) i1 E; W m9 m冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 & T8 w$ O6 n% y7 a* v/ O# R( C8 c: k' }0 f/ A: p# U& z
Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize 7 p- }: C* G5 L' u$ `0 k: _ $ G) F9 u* O' a H# V- qA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction., Y- p V9 G: l1 J, f- ?
: h" x/ L9 X4 `2 G# yMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. 5 @) e) l& s; m4 w- q* `, y6 }2 a0 I$ U2 r, K1 R- u2 a
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly".9 U J# a* o9 k$ N2 a
6 }# W1 E' ^% ?: DHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". 1 v3 Y: U, L1 t0 A0 G3 t' z. p2 _+ d) m# p8 \
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. / @6 |# F9 F& T. Q) m: D 6 ^# X7 n6 v. [1 D" tThe 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.7 {0 B P$ `9 q M: U
+ b5 j( n4 y$ Y# h* a7 C) IThis 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.3 z9 j2 I! C" p4 @0 p# [
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They each received £1,000. 0 K$ p# m% A7 h5 m8 a% r9 x$ _& f* y5 G" o0 b; ^& u
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
