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Friday, April 24, 2009

Book News-28: Book turns Bestseller - "Open Veins of Latin America"

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano
A Passionate account of Latin American History

One of the biggest winners at the ongoing fifth Summit of the Americas turned out to be a decades-old book about Latin America's colonial past.

The "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano rocketed to bestseller status on Saturday night (April 18, 2009) on the online bookstore Amazon.com after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handed him a copy of the book to U.S.President Barack Obama on Saturday. Mr.Chavez and Mr.Obama were in Port of Spain to attend the three-day summit between April 17 and 19. The copy had a Chavez handwritten dedicatory that stated: "Para Obama con afecto" - To Obama with affection).

The publicity about the gift helped propel its English version from relative obscurity to No.10 on the Amazon.com list of bestsellers. The book also topped Amazon's "Movers and Shakers", a list of the biggest gainers in its book sales rank over 24 hours. After receiving the gift, Mr Obama jokingly said he thought it was a book written by Mr.Chavez.

First published in 1971 and reissued in several new editions since then, the book is called by one reviewer as a "passionate account of 500 years of Latin American history, written with drama, humour, and compassion." - Xinhua.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, April 20, 2009.

Grateful thanks to Xinhua and The Hindu, India's National Newspaper
.