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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。 & ^) H5 ]' s0 r$ [- ?4 k ( u% V& w) j. Q3 o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。 n2 x* f% C0 g5 U! V % `6 ]* _- f; e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”。 " g+ x" r; j! y9 W9 A" @, o8 w" o
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”。 y$ }# V" }8 S
) W: M* l8 E# R1 [; H8 x《毛的大饥荒》一书以新的历史观点分析了导致几千万人饿死的毛泽东的过热工业政策,并披露了有关1958-62年大跃进期间的一些新细节。& X) c' e. m ?2 u; O- N9 f
, Y( h5 c9 |: h6 Z1 c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。 3 P+ T z" ^# R8 S: @( m _. U 0 M! s+ G# o& `& q5 b- R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。6 q9 n! l* L; v
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7 [& O0 Z3 O) V/ s A 8 _& d# M- k; d) v7 q) Z9 i7 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。 4 G! C; H/ q1 y2 b* Q1 k* a3 C, B, i8 t4 ~; x l2 c7 G/ Y
Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize ' x! H/ A* v7 ^6 d7 j ) Z( p9 }) @+ H6 f0 B( I& e; jA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.* s Y) I3 g" B* y* E8 g
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Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.# H% k0 T p0 W: p
- B$ a& `0 J4 q6 ]; X8 O2 T8 JChair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly".4 d* N& C8 |. V2 |6 Q6 ^/ T
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He added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". 0 Y( w- P1 e1 P8 o& M' M0 w * S. ]) t1 a, L7 p( G! G& @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.4 X# X) M( @4 i! Q
; M& c8 j1 Y; o5 h( S5 H& c) _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.! N4 w4 B( y5 q% m4 {
" ^; ]- [3 `/ L8 a1 {6 RThis 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.) A7 z0 N. R( k" b$ W
! l5 R0 W6 p* J1 OThey each received £1,000. 9 Y; m4 b$ @9 `8 H# L" u# C9 f A6 T6 w2 ?1 ? `
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.