6 Z, r5 e( O3 ]# M' u- j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。 : Y+ i$ v5 U X . a8 E; p. N2 A9 a9 X# F" q+ D0 U& r! x q 3 S7 f; K; ]; _9 ^7 n$ D. ~
冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。; l" q. j; G7 }* q
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Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize : R& |, `' h% B9 U9 H" h $ m# J c5 l# [: n I( I: S! QA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.% k# |5 j) C. |) ]& I: f# ^
! O) _6 A: n, T# q* H5 K" @; W& _Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. ' z$ d: g: Y3 b7 z" E- |, A5 [# K* i0 x* p0 f2 _3 d& g8 Q
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". * O" i& |! f8 ?! o$ F0 c( @* S. S$ n+ I4 R1 W& q, H+ I
He added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".5 Y8 r6 N$ L7 ~0 {+ G3 S
) @* h4 p F* q3 C" H! V* k6 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.' z, f' ?9 T- K- Y6 W* 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./ l% s1 `# v g" G0 P9 g
) W& F$ \6 m z& v) p* ~8 JThis 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. ) b$ I% k* w6 \2 e5 S8 z * w4 m- h R% C2 m5 nThey each received £1,000. 5 d4 P9 m3 x9 A$ H$ v6 e 3 k- [4 J F* E! F+ |* ], g) UThe prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
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