7 T& k/ Y0 m9 T- d5 s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。 , E4 l" j& `6 N 0 v. Y$ Z. V. h! y4 `/ o 7 ?* w5 }/ p6 H ) c3 p& [* Z3 _4 I4 M1 s) C. Q冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 * @$ d+ h, L- X3 Z , E7 Y& c2 ~0 {. t9 E) t2 h: {2 JMao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize ' p/ a4 v' U& p# ], q) I, K- q* y( w% Y! ^
A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. 7 n2 ~. i1 Q/ D0 R! l2 \7 [' O4 {* o; n
Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. ' o* Z" u# g4 [8 R. e/ a+ y9 f+ M( S8 G8 r# Q( N( @; a4 Y
Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". 2 a( g1 F/ N3 @) O% S/ X ( {/ o+ A8 h& m R8 bHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".2 V6 Y( a% w$ _# D% _1 h' m
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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. 8 j0 `: E9 M+ o# i8 [. z, J: W% _0 \
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.5 r" J& h; X) t% h9 N$ x
- d- N7 c) C" i7 d, ~This 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. 9 s; \$ A1 ~! D) z5 Q" ~2 i. ] W* i* W/ w8 W4 G1 ~$ D
They each received £1,000. 1 d* F4 G# v; [9 |' g+ _* s2 a) f9 h# J, ^
The prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
