History Creator / NewEnglishLibrary

* ContemptibleCover: There were ''plenty'' of those.

* StrawmanFallacy: Setting up your perceived ideological opponents in order to knock them down.

The NEL's output covered all the ''[[ParanoiaFuel bete noires]]'' of the right-wing establishment: UsefulNotes/{{skinheads}}, [[{{Delinquents}} teen gangs]], [[EvilForeigner uncontrolled non-white immigration]], FootballHooligans, [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker gangs]], greedy trade unions, and liberal politicians acting as willing or unaware dupes for [[DirtyCommunists Moscow's diabolical plan]] to destroy the West from within before moving in to "restore order", as well as having side-swipes at pagans, Wiccans, atheists, and others who threatened the traditional British way of life. Looking back with hindsight, it is almost as if somebody was deliberately setting up NightmareFuel for the bourgeoisie as well as a stern warning from Nanny not to eat cheese before bedtime. It was like reading the ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' recast as moral fables for our age, but with {{Satan}} replaced with more secular bogeymen.

!!This work contains examples of the following:

* NeedsMoreLove

The New English Library was a publishing house in Great Britain which was most active in the late 1960s and 1970s. It was in touch with the ''zeitgeist'' of the period, which consisted of heartfelt angst about Britain's perceived post-[[WorldWarII war]], post-Suez slide down the world rankings, both as industrial power and as a Great Power. As [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire the Empire]] faded and more and more former colonies achieved independence, Britain's inability to re-invent itself as a post-imperial nation that was at ease with itself began to show in a myriad of social and economic problems. The optimism of the 1960s began to be replaced with a deep malaise and pessimism about the future, which right-wing and authoritarian elements put down to the pernicious permissiveness and licentiousness of the 1960's, combined with perceived over-powerful and greedy trade unions "holding the nation to ransom". This perception of a country in deep social mire was gleefully fanned by right-wing [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers papers]] such as the ''Daily Mail'' and ''Daily Express'', who battened on issues such as teen gangs of the UsefulNotes/{{skinhead|s}} variety and on the growing issue of [[FootballHooligans football hooliganism]] as evidence of the country going to Hell in a handcart.

* PoliticalStereotype: They were fables of where things would lead if They were allowed to exert power, leading to...

The New English Library was a publishing house in Great Britain which was most active in the late 1960s and 1970s. It was in touch with the ''zeitgeist'' of the period, which consisted of heartfelt angst about Britain's perceived post-[[WorldWarII war]], post-Suez slide down the world rankings, both as industrial power and as a Great Power. As [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire the Empire]] faded and more and more former colonies achieved independence, Britain's inability to re-invent itself as a post-imperial nation that was at ease with itself began to show in a myriad of social and economic problems. The optimism of the 1960s began to be replaced with a deep malaise and pessimism about the future, which right-wing and authoritarian elements put down to the pernicious permissiveness and licentiousness of the 1960's, combined with perceived over-powerful and greedy trade unions "holding the nation to ransom". This perception of a country in deep social mire was gleefully fanned by right-wing [[BritishNewspapers papers]] such as the ''Daily Mail'' and ''Daily Express'', who battened on issues such as teen gangs of the UsefulNotes/{{skinhead|s}} variety and on the growing issue of [[FootballHooligans football hooliganism]] as evidence of the country going to Hell in a handcart.

* ReactionaryFantasy: See AuthorTract. They used the promise of nasty, explicit, and lurid content to support a decidedly reactionary set of values.

It was not all right-wing warnings of apocalypse dressed up as lurid adventure: authors such as Creator/{{Michael Moorcock}} also wrote for NEL because they needed the cash, and sought to subvert the message where they could.

This is not to be confused with the '''New American Library''', a rather more respectable and up-market publishing house founded in 1948 as the North American imprint of '''Penguin Books''', and which largely devotes itself to reprints of out-of-copyright classical works and the sort of literary novel that stands in danger of winning prestigious literary prizes. The NAL is still a thriving concern today and in fact boasts a long roster of literary award-winers.

The NEL's output covered all the ''[[ParanoiaFuel bete noires]]'' of the right-wing establishment: UsefulNotes/{{skinheads}}, teen gangs, uncontrolled non-white immigration, FootballHooligans, [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker gangs]], greedy trade unions and liberal politicians acting as willing or unaware dupes for Moscow's diabolical plan to destroy the West from within before moving in to "restore order", as well as having side-swipes at pagans, Wiccans, atheists, and others who threatened the traditional British way of life. Looking back with hindsight, it is almost as if somebody was deliberately setting up NightmareFuel for the bourgeoisie as well as a stern warning from Nanny not to eat cheese before bedtime. It was like reading the ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' recast as moral fables for our age, but with {{Satan}} replaced with more secular bogeymen.

They attracted a cult readership who appreciated them as literature while not buying into the implicit social and political message that only strong government and a Strong Leader could save us.

The people behind NEL got their wish for strong authoritarian government to redress the permissive poisoned legacy of the '60s in 1979, when MargaretThatcher was elected PM. Interestingly enough, the NEL declined in sales and popularity during the '80s and the imprint was closed down as an independent entity, although its publishing list was bought by Hodder and some of the better novels are still in print today. The original books are now sought-after on the second-hand market, and a brisk trade in them carries on today.

* AuthorTract: right-wing polemic dressed as sensationalist stories
* ContemptibleCover: there were ''plenty'' of those.

* ReactionaryFantasy: see AuthorTract
* PoliticalStereotype: fables of where things would lead if They were allowed to exert power;
* StrawmanFallacy: seting up your perceived ideological opponents only to knock them down
* [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman ''Everything'']] - acute amphiboly
* TorturePorn: lots of it, with a vague moral message that of course this is not right and perpetrators will pay the price. Just so the reader was no doubt at all that this was wrong, the torture was described in great detail.

* [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman ''Everything'']] - acute amphiboly

The NEL's output covered all the ''[[ParanoiaFuel bete noires]]'' of the right-wing establishment: UsefulNotes/{{skinheads}}, teen gangs, uncontrolled non-white immigration, {{football hooligans}}, [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker gangs]], greedy trade unions and liberal politicians acting as willing or unaware dupes for Moscow's diabolical plan to destroy the West from within before moving in to "restore order", as well as having side-swipes at pagans, Wiccans, atheists, and others who threatened the traditional British way of life. Looking back with hindsight, it is almost as if somebody was deliberately setting up NightmareFuel for the bourgeoisie as well as a stern warning from Nanny not to eat cheese before bedtime. It was like reading the ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' recast as moral fables for our age, but with {{Satan}} replaced with more secular bogeymen.

* AuthorTract
* ReactionaryFantasy
* PoliticalStereotype
* StrawmanFallacy

The New English Library was a publishing house in Great Britain which was most active in the late 1960s and 1970s. It was in touch with the ''zeitgeist'' of the period, which consisted of heartfelt angst about Britain's perceived post-[[WorldWarII war]], post-Suez slide down the world rankings, both as industrial power and as a Great Power. As [[TheBritishEmpire the Empire]] faded and more and more former colonies achieved independence, Britain's inability to re-invent itself as a post-imperial nation that was at ease with itself began to show in a myriad of social and economic problems. The optimism of the 1960s began to be replaced with a deep malaise and pessimism about the future, which right-wing and authoritarian elements put down to the pernicious permissiveness and licentiousness of the 1960's, combined with perceived over-powerful and greedy trade unions "holding the nation to ransom". This perception of a country in deep social mire was gleefully fanned by right-wing [[BritishNewspapers papers]] such as the ''Daily Mail'' and ''Daily Express'', who battened on issues such as teen gangs of the UsefulNotes/{{skinhead|s}} variety and on the growing issue of [[FootballHooligans football hooliganism]] as evidence of the country going to Hell in a handcart.

It was not all right-wing warnings of apocalypse dressed up as lurid adventure: authors such as {{Michael Moorcock}} also wrote for NEL because they needed the cash, and sought to subvert the message where they could.