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Just days after Hugo Chávez gave President Barack Obama a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America" in Trinidad last week, the English-language version of the book shot to the No. 2 slot on Amazon.com. Americans seemed to be curious about Mr. Chávez's reading tastes. But in Latin America, "Open Veins" is a well-known rant by Uruguayan Marxist Eduardo Galeano. And it also has another distinction that Mr. Chávez may be less inclined to publicize: It is widely regarded in free-market circles as "the idiot's bible." The book was tagged with that moniker in the 1996 best seller, "The Manual...

APRIL 26, 2009 The Idiot's Bible By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY Just days after Hugo Chávez gave President Barack Obama a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America" in Trinidad last week, the English-language version of the book shot to the No. 2 slot on Amazon.com. Americans seemed to be curious about Mr. Chávez's reading tastes. But in Latin America, "Open Veins" is a well-known rant by Uruguayan Marxist Eduardo Galeano. And it also has another distinction that Mr. Chávez may be less inclined to publicize: It is widely regarded in free-market circles as "the idiot's bible." The book was tagged...

The English translation of the book Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave to President Obama on Saturday has become a sensational seller on the Internet, jumping to No. 2 on Amazon's sales list by noon Sunday, after being No. 54,295 just a day earlier. "Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina," or "Open Veins of Latin America," by Eduardo Galeano describes centuries of invasions and other attempts to influence Latin American affairs by outside powers, including the United States. Mr. Chavez handed the Spanish-language version of the book to Mr. Obama after the American president spoke at a Saturday-morning meeting of leaders...