The Boccia Mountain


Book Description

This manga was produced thanks to the support of France’s Paralympic Sports Committee and in collaboration with the athlete Sonia Heckel (boccia). “The French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) leads France’s Paralympic team to the Games. Paralympic manga are a unique opportunity to discover and learn more about sports that are still mostly unknown. And, through an original medium, linking the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with those of Paris 2024, along with all Paralympic athletes.” Marie-Amélie Le Fur (President of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee) Suffering from a rare degenerative disease which gradually paralyzes her, our heroine finds her strength in the sport of boccia – providing her with the will to fight and always surpass herself in order to reach the top by completing the Paralympic Games. ABOUT THE AUTHOR At the age of 20, Céline Gaudet decided to transform her passion for manga into a profession. She left Montreal to take courses under the direction of a Japanese manga teacher, at AAA-Ecole de Manga. She writes under the pseudonym Reptilian. In collaboration with Sonia Heckel, a 31 year old athlete from Nancy, France, who has myopathy. This genetic disease prevents her muscles from regenerating, which, since the age of 13, has required use of an electric wheelchair. Sonia has been practicing Boccia since she was 18. She immediately fell in love with having to fight to “score a point” and quickly understood that this sport suited her perfectly. To date, she is a triple French Champion, with her sports assistant, Florent Brachet, and European Team Champion. In parallel to her sporting career, Sonia is an Accounting Secretary at Vandoeuvre Nancy Volley Ball.




The Crouching Beast


Book Description

As a first lieutenant in Bravo Company of the Third Battalion, 187th Infantry, Frank Boccia led a platoon in two intense battles in the Vietnamese mountains in April and May 1969: Dong Ngai and the grinding, 11-day battle of Dong Ap Bia--the Mountain of the Crouching Beast, in Vietnamese, or Hamburger Hill as it is popularly known. The Rakkasans, the 3/187th, are the most highly decorated unit in the history of the United States Army, and two of those decorations were awarded for these two battles. This vivid account of the author's first seven months in Vietnam gives special attention to the events at Dong Ap Bia, following the hard-hit 3/187th hour by hour through its repeated assaults on the mountain, against an unseen enemy in an ideal defensive position. It also corrects several errors that have persisted in histories and official reports of the battle. Beyond describing his own experiences and reactions, the author writes, "I want to convey the real face of war, both its mindless carnage and its nobility of spirit. Above all, I want to convey what happened to both the casual reader and the military historian and make them aware of the extraordinary spirit of the men of First Platoon, Bravo Company. They were ordinary men doing extraordinary things."




Hamburger Hill


Book Description

The battle for Ap Bia Mountain (Hill 937), was one of the fiercest of the entire Vietnam War. On May 10, 1969, Army, Marine Corps, and ARVN forces kicked off Operation Apache Snow. It was finally time to clean out the notorious A Shau Valley. The next day, elements of the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles, made initial contact with NVA forces on the lower reaches of Hill 937. The ten days of combat that followed became the human meat grinder known around the world as Hamburger Hill. The firestorm of controversy that sprang up around this incredibly bloody battle has long overshadowed the facts of the battle itself and the campaign of which it was a part. Now, in author Zaffiri’s masterful account of the battle, the full story, from the high command down to the individual Screaming Eagle on the mountain, is revealed. Praise for Hamburger Hill “[Samuel Zaffiri] skillfully blends his narrative with anecdotal material. It is the many chilling, sometimes poignant, vignettes that make the addition of this volume to any soldier’s bookshelf a must.”—Military Review “Vietnam combat veteran Samuel Zaffiri . . . presents the action and decision making at Ap Bia in remarkably forceful detail.”—Vietnam Magazine “Probably no other Vietnam battle better illustrates . . . Sherman’s dictum that war is hell. Mr. Zaffiri focuses on the incredible horror and hardship faced by the soldier on the ground. . . . [His] narrative is viscerally graphic. . . . Zaffiri’s realistic and authoritative account deserves to be read. By dramatically describing the assault on Hamburger Hill, the author has raised anew controversial questions about the Vietnam War that will be debated for a long time to come.”—Army Magazine




The Rakkasans


Book Description

The complete account of one of the most remarkable regiments in the history of the US Army. The Rakkasans (meaning "umbrella men" as they were nicknamed by the Japanese), have fought in every major American military conflict from World War II to the Persian Gulf, where the regiment made the longest and largest combat air assault in military history. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Enduring Vietnam


Book Description

Introduction: a generation goes to war -- Memorial days -- Dong Ap Bia: becoming Hamburger Hill -- Passing the torch to a new generation -- Receiving the torch -- Not their father's way of war -- The American war in Vietnam -- Getting out of this place -- Duck and cover -- Enduring Vietnam: a story that has no end







The Little Slaves of the Harp


Book Description

During the nineteenth century child musicians could be seen performing in the streets of cities across Europe and North America. Although they came from a number of countries, Italians were most associated with street music. In The Little Slaves of the Harp John Zucchi tells the story of the thousands of Italian children who were indentured to padrone and then uprooted from their villages in central and southern Italy and taken to Paris, London, and New York to perform as barrel-organists, harpists, violinists, fifers, pipers, and animal exhibitors.




The Shared Space of Play


Book Description

The similarities between traditional games in different regions of the world, from past to present, arouse both awe and curiosity. The playful - yet educational - discovery of these practices offers the opportunity to observe the experience of play as a space for similarities between cultures. When research on play conducted with children is enriched by the recollections of play from parents and grandparents, especially in the context of a multicultural classroom, a choral narrative emerges, laying down the basis for intercultural education. Children discover the 'shared space of play', where they can meet and relish, together with teachers, the richness of cultural diversity, and also learn more about prejudice and Othering processes.




Modern Soft Tissue Pathology


Book Description

This book comprehensively covers modern soft tissue pathology and includes both tumors and non-neoplastic entities. All methods of diagnosis are covered here, with an emphasis on the newest diagnostic tools. The organization allows the reader to compare didactic, comprehensive panels of illustrations to formulate a complete understanding of the most common and more unusual diseases.




Konrad Adenauer


Book Description