Dower is equally good at evoking the sense of the time, and examining how Japanese popular culture reflected the hurt and the overwhelming sense of having been grossly misled by their rulers in a surprisingly rich outpouring of contemporary memoirs, books, cartoons, films and other media.

CNN: Books: The Reinventing of Japan

Users can also peruse more than 150 supplementary texts, ranging from reference works to contemporary reviews of Darwin's books, obituaries and recollections.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Charles Darwin's works go online

The Storymoja Hay literary festival is an annual gathering that celebrates contemporary culture and ideas through storytelling, books, live discussion forums, workshops, debates, live performances, and music.

FORBES: The Hay Festival Goes To Kenya

He is regarded by many as one of the best writers in contemporary children's literature, but his books deal with difficult topics such as child abuse, homelessness and disability.

BBC: Row over teen novel

The striking gap between, on the one hand, the elegant polish of the narration, the silver rustle of these exquisite sentences, the poised narrowness of the social satire and, on the other hand, the screaming pain of the family violence inflicted on Patrick makes these books some of the strangest of contemporary novels.

NEWYORKER: Noble Savages