$ p3 H% a' x& R, f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。1 C( r1 N' I3 S4 z1 m$ q5 L: P
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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。 - w" F! j/ g$ q1 X2 Q. t$ f2 R , E2 s @ K' t, N 0 x- `0 l$ p) J6 Y' {- }+ X1 H& p 0 F5 p4 {/ t8 b: L+ ?& t& 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。 ( U+ @& {3 }9 s7 J" v+ p8 _ * @" c( o" ^, i U1 s! JMao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize 9 t! j$ k2 o- h: y, w % w% ?, c; g. l6 tA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.$ _- U& n6 C% Z/ }
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Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. ( J2 D3 A& N" P5 G4 J- g( C/ }$ C! o; @9 G- L* g1 ?7 o; d
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly".3 f. z0 H- [0 Y, x8 u' C/ [( @
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He added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".1 D2 b% x7 w( [( o. \
: a m3 P& v' |+ D/ CMao'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. : N3 i% h8 B, s1 U/ Q9 D3 }$ h- t! z2 A' }2 |/ u
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.! e8 l) u! f: ~( x
" y: l% [1 H$ c' X" r; X4 x6 tThis 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. ) H- I& t' S4 y- r8 A1 f) b. y. ] \1 |
They each received £1,000.0 B, Z8 f5 _) k2 w1 s% T
g' A, s: t9 LThe prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
