( y) ]3 @- G2 A* J$ q5 c1 ~1 z- D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。( V9 H( R9 T% s! }+ t1 R5 h- l
- W. n! Y. N: B3 K
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。 ' l: U2 j$ a' X% z 5 @5 @2 ~$ r* t8 Z4 r 0 P$ g7 ]9 U# `$ p0 y! k9 L/ r$ y9 Q3 P4 O2 l) l. ]
冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。+ r' V/ R. ^ {# r, Q' {
" A. J" v7 M( i _3 G. W
Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize ! A5 X8 a" k8 @5 E- A 1 O1 \- G1 L" K6 Q* ]( d# D- uA book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.4 G4 s) V) b" |6 F* m5 R
6 N, Z; \* b3 \: ^. m0 D) B
Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. , ^+ j+ j+ j& F7 _$ f5 l ! x; }$ n( q& c' |' uChair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly".3 G2 O3 E( c# W0 g
1 S- u2 j7 k' N: I8 d# ~He added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".2 j" F! }6 } N" i( o* c6 F7 X
0 ]# }1 Y+ M- Z `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. # k- f' F \' s# I 3 F# {, ]9 t, L# @1 |* b9 }' d; OThe 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.0 g; f) Q3 g z+ t- P; e
* z0 y' f: X7 M% t8 V5 i' L
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.$ q5 e! }* i8 w. S7 F4 A
$ U9 S" l2 L& U) S) i& [They each received £1,000. 8 ]# d6 } E+ g& o. T9 k0 q+ t7 q6 l8 N+ U7 G) 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.