8 t% n& v! ^+ X. v9 ~ v% 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。 + @1 L# z2 V1 ?6 w. u$ T" f9 b. v* K % S+ C5 I" e C4 t% r/ q+ W b6 L% K / I q6 s: W. `2 l " Z$ s' p1 V9 A8 t) a冯克是为数不多获准使用中国历史档案的外国学者之一。1 J. q; P0 e8 z: K* D6 X$ c8 C
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Mao's Great Famine wins Samuel Johnson Prize : \) G6 q# q1 \1 N' T' h! o9 T4 ?; ?$ r. H& g; ^
A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. ' y+ }( i; C. J/ p7 T' E $ ?0 Z( }3 w3 p6 m! {! eMao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award.8 I! G$ l8 g4 ~7 E- [
& ]: Y, i& G3 q3 r) k0 ^! CChair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an "epic record of human folly". * {5 a5 C8 X7 U9 ^9 g $ F8 O( u: J5 I* X7 ZHe added it was "essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th Century".$ s P, H) O8 i8 [9 d
0 w6 h: `+ w0 J1 Z+ fMao'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.! e6 _( Z; F6 I* R3 Z! G3 x% [' F0 N
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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. * D w9 h! \5 j: {, h0 I; i: v. G+ m8 a$ e
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. ; ^( s' y2 L+ y" D7 t! j1 t# V4 h 7 r( {7 N6 E) j( A; EThey each received £1,000.- _+ X+ p4 {& ?$ w
! v8 g6 m0 l; [& L D2 s6 A) MThe prize was open to non-fiction books published in English by writers of any nationality between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2011.
