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一本有关中国大跃进运动的历史著作赢得了由BBC赞助的英国塞缪尔·约翰逊文学奖。& G+ J( W- c8 X5 k b
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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。! o. \- M9 p% s: g! d) N* y) r
3 g5 Y' r- O. R2 o3 G' f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”。 4 C& H9 z3 `) z+ v 4 q [* ?! f# X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”。1 `) f* D# l7 d, L( k' q
4 b; @5 o6 ~: X) N& |8 |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。 , \2 Z3 ]) r- F7 v: v5 D" ]+ J8 L8 ] $ }8 n$ P8 B/ Z Z5 ^. ~7 X) I- S h" q5 ] * y4 H6 r- L4 b冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 ( p9 Q$ A( h& {( }1 ], g4 M9 i) K: U1 |, Y7 Q3 O
Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize& H: h$ n5 Y2 Z( F, u# Y) `- @
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A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.% f; m4 z( t8 V5 D5 I$ d; _
( D& D$ O2 U6 X' h U& E. C: rMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.0 L$ x9 q8 H) _' \% L7 {! E
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Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". 2 l4 D- @0 i) l+ N8 X, D1 N! f 1 t' A8 Y4 J+ x3 M# r' I/ pHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". . ?- R9 ~' A6 u1 |/ E/ g% ?" h; d9 }$ }- o6 W2 f4 _
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.! ]" Y( ^" K0 b; ~: N/ ~3 q
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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. G3 Q" n! _2 A+ U- m; P
5 E. w; F( P7 \8 |8 Y" ^; wThis 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." F9 N% E+ F2 ^0 e6 a0 d
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They each received £1,000.2 F6 j$ {# W8 O0 h6 k: T
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The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.