$ f2 F# i0 u7 {2 j2 y/ I4 M- L2 E! z& @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。8 a3 D! Z+ E, y, [3 |( _- n
" z% w' G: |! Z* j 8 Z8 E) K) s! z; w2 k# L7 R & w# P4 g9 c: n0 X冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。 * n+ X _4 K& E 7 @0 J3 \ u) D8 D, v) W5 [Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize- M. s! J% }5 o6 L) `% \
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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. 5 X% v% p0 w0 O% ~ # i" {6 _! }1 t5 z3 G3 J% w# yMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.7 T" \: l$ K5 ?( g* H0 e
. O% u* t/ O2 c: \, |7 YChair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". ; ^. V) A8 A3 s% e& n5 R; l) j 2 I# t5 v8 I- u; i. }; L) AHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century". 1 v9 l: x7 M; E; V& j - i4 G& m m3 J& X. G0 N1 S& |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. 0 t* y& F& O1 v2 W) n' g% o) N0 E, {2 |
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. ( C, z$ b- ?" z5 n( c/ D, D i; X! r5 o" L' q* m' `. P1 L: v
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.: H# u3 s& t* L5 D$ w& J( M
4 j+ d% c: |* k% N2 F, f& H! YThey each received £1,000.! y5 l8 l5 W s+ e& |8 {1 k$ K
2 X8 ^% q4 ]2 g& |" C2 g S; q; nThe prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
