Mr. Melton writes a wonderful book that gives a whole new side to the World War II most people learn about. The book is in catalogue style, picturing and explaining the different tools used by the OSS and SOE (during WWII). This book gives assurance that the US government is able to do excellent work under pressure. It is an absolutely fascinating read that should not be missed!

Anyone who reads this book will be amazed by the unlimited imagination of man. The ways spies find to conceal and miniaturize their equipment are unbelievable. After reading this book, you'll never laugh at James Bond's gadgets. Those films don't show a fraction of it. I must say that this book's highest point is the graphic and design: the book is big, good for a coffe table, has a sleeve cover, the paper is of the finest possible, the pictures are clear, everything following the Dorling-Kindersley tradition. The introductory texts and the history of espionage I thought that were a little confuse and vague, so be warned: the book is remarkable by the equipment part (the longest section, more than half of it, I think), but if you want an insight look at history and info of espionage look out for another book. All in all, a good job by this Melton guy, he really got into the work of finding the stuff.

H. Keith Melton has literally produced "The Ultimate Spy Book!" This book is very informative on not only a large collection of tools of the trade, but chock-full of short write-ups on famous spies and missions performed during the days of spy and counterspy. Everything from silenced weapons to entry devices to sabotage devices. Almost every item listed is accompanied by color photos and a description of the item's application in wartime operations. No matter what your interest in the clandestine world of the Cold War is, this book is a must-have resource!

I would like to consider myself an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction pertaining to the world of espionage. In light of this, I, having read many, many books on the topic, would have to rate this as quite possibly the best. Though many other books have been written in an "encyclopedia" form concerning the Intelligence community and spying, THE ULTIMATE SPY BOOK is very concise, informative, and generally provided me with what I was looking for. Kudos to H. Keith Melton on a superb book.

I think this book gets you thru the basics pretty nicely, but, as things start to get harder, the book isn't as useful.

At one point you are advised something like this: "from this point out we aren't going to advise you when to play chords or single notes, just go with what sounds good". Great for the musically creative, but not me.

The section on reading music doesn't clearly show you what notes go with what holes, is another example. And the section on playing blues was odd, not even explaining how 12-bar blues really works.

This was one three harmonica instruction books I bought, and clearly the best. for the best part is its organization, which is easy to follow even for a beginner. It has the usual Complete idiot's Guide structure which emphasizes making it easy to read and find things, like a complete index, easy to read forma, and tips and tricks which are hi-lighted. The resource guide at the end is also useful and gives you additional instructional material, harmonica websites and organizations, magazines and places to purchase harmonicas, etc.

If you tried Jon Gindick's harmonica technique (he wrote a simple method and bundled it with an inexpensive harmonica in the Klutz books series) you might find you are interested in learning more. There are a lot of books on harmonica method, and they range from too simple to too complicated.

This book is surprisingly good. It covers what harmonicas to purchase (and the advice is good, the listing of brands fairly complete.) There is a section on bending notes, an essential technique for getting more notes out of a diatonic harmonica and for creating a bluesy sound.

The best chapter, for me, was on the structure of 12-bar blues with an explanation of the "call-and-response" structure. It's easy to understand and essential for structuring your blues riffs to make musical sense. There's also a fine chapter on the etiquette of jamming with harmonica when you join up with a guitarist, singer and other instrumentalists. The harmonica plays support, mostly, but does get to solo. When should you chime in and when do you fade to the background? This chapter tells you how not to make a fool of yourself.

The only thing this book doesn't have is a CD with guitar or piano for jamming along with. If you are getting started in harmonica, especially blues harp, you will need some CD's, especially of the greats like Little Walter and Charles Musselwhite, to provide examples. You can't listen enough to get the ideas down. But this book is a really worthy text to go along with your practice.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! William Blount, late Senatorfrom the State of Tennessee, come forward and answer the Articles ofImpeachment exhibited against you by the House of Representatives." With these words spoken on December 17, 1798, by the sergeant-in-arms, the Senate commenced impeachment proceedings against William Blount. His was the first impeachment by Congress of a public official. Blount's offense was his involvement in a scheme to encourage revolution in the western states of 1796, which included western Tennessee and lands south. The scheme would have encouraged England to wrest away control of Florida and other areas held by Spain. Blount and colleagues stood to profit because they held large land holdings in some of these areas.

Professor Melton, who holds academic degrees in both history and law, provides us with a well researched book that describes the conditions which preceded Blount's impeachment and the implications for impeachments that followed Blount's. He describes the struggle that faced Congress in determining what constituted impeachment, as provided for in the U.S. Constitution. In particular, Congress had to decide if impeachment was to be considered as a criminal act or as a political offense. Some of the best parts of this book are the high-quality debates in House and Senate on what Congress should consider asimpeachable offenses. This book is highly recommended as a look into the early years of our country during the post-revolutionary period, although parts of the book are a dense read when the author gets into too much legal narrative and arguments.