Chavez’s book skyrockets in sales

The book Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez gave to President Obama at the Summit of the Americas has skyrocketed in online sales.

“Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” by historian Eduardo Galeano ranked as the 17th best-selling book on Amazon.com’s bestseller list as of late Saturday afternoon and was climbing higher throughout the day — not bad for a 1997 title.

Chavez gave Obama the book by the liberal historian when the two first met in person yesterday.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs joked earlier today that it’s unlikely the president will read the book.

“I think it’s in Spanish, so that might be a tad on the difficult side,” Gibbs said.