Hugo Chavez plugs Noam Chomsky book

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Writer Noam Chomsky has Venezuela President Hugo Chavez to thank for a sudden surge in sales of his 2003 book on the U.S. effort to dominate the world.

Chavez recommended, during his U.N. address, that anyone wishing to understand "what has been happening in the world through the 20th century" read Chomsky's "Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance."

"I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because the threat is in their own house. The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house," said Chavez, referring to U.S. President George Bush.

The change in sales of Chomsky's book was drastic enough after the plug by Chavez to send the tome from No. 160,722 on Amazon.com's bestseller list to No. 7 overnight, The Independent of London reported Friday.

Chomsky, a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., said he had not yet had the opportunity to read Chavez's speech.