Need a Pitchman for your book: How about Hugo Chavez

Hugo's book club? Chavez speech sparks sales for Chomsky

Last Updated Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:55:45 EDT

CBC Arts

Author Noam Chomsky got an unexpected boost in sales after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cited one of his books in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

Hugo Chavez shows the UN General Assembly a copy of a Noam Chomsky book, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. (Ed Betz/Associated Press)

At the start of his talk Wednesday, Chavez held up a book by Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, and recommended it to everyone in the General Assembly, as well as to the American people.

"The people of the United States should read this ... instead of … watching Superman movies," the long-time critic of U.S. foreign policy later told reporters.

The unexpected promotion had a surprising effect on online bestseller lists.

Hegemony or Survival, originally published in 2003, had jumped into the top 10 of Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com as of Thursday afternoon.

A deeper look at the Amazon results shows an even more profound impact. The online bookseller also charts what it calls "Movers & Shakers," books that have seen a sudden rise in popularity in the last 24 hours.

Three Chomsky books made the list's top 10: His 2002 book Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, was third, while the paperback and hardcover versions of Hegemony or Survival were the fourth- and seventh-highest risers.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the sixth-highest riser was Eric Shawn's The U.N. Exposed: How the United Nations Sabotages America's Security and Fails the World.

Chomsky, the famed 77-year-old linguist, has been an outspoken opponent of U.S. foreign policy. His many books include 9-11, a bestselling collection of interviews, and Failed States, which came out last spring.

With files from the Associated Press