A Tour Through the Israeli Academic Bookstore. Part One: Radical Chic

I confess, I am a book-worm. Make that a book-whale. I love to read, and read about books. I check stores, and online stores, obsessively to check out if there's anything new and interesting. The following is an attempt to share some of that obsession:

One can not walk into an Israeli bookstore, certainly not an academic bookstore, and not notice the huge array of far-left and lunatic-fringe left literature on the shelves. Every week, at least one new radical booklet comes out. A series of small, radical publishers, Resling publishers foremost among them, has in the past three years or so, published scores of works meant for the true believer to reinforce his faith, and for the uninitiated to join the flock. Translations of everyone from Andrea Dworkin (RIP) to Jacques Derrida to Joseph Stalin (yes, THAT Joseph Stalin), as well as home-grown works by local radicals such as Uri Ram are readily available on the shelves. Add to this the radical works published under the auspices of the "Red Line" Series of HaKibbutz HaMeuhad, as well as Am Oved, and you have a virtual library of source material for the aspiring moonbat or idiotarian.

I'm not quite sure how to swallow this development. Does this flood have an effect on the mainstream of Israeli readers, or even academics? Or is it simply a desperate cry for attention that is ignored? Maybe someone could fill me in on this.