In case anyone is still interested in the question of the English enclosure movement, I link to the late Sudha Shenoy’s post on the subject. Shenoy, a noted authority on British economic history, argues that the matter is not a simple one, and that scholarly precision as opposed to propagandistic axe-grinding is essential.  Interestingly, she begins by linking to Joe Stromberg’s Austro-libertarian article against enclosures, suggesting that there is no single “Austro-libertarian” view of the subject.  Seeing that we are not a cult, and do not insist on one allowable position on every issue under the sun, this is hardly a surprise.  (And indeed, combing the various Austro-libertarian archives in order to uncover dissent on this subject only proves my point about the non-cultish nature of the movement.)

I read G.E. Mingay’s book Enclosure and the Small Farmer in the Age of the Industrial Revolution (1968) at Shenoy’s recommendation when I emailed her for reading suggestions, and I cited it and another work by the same author in a peer-reviewed article I co-authored.  Despite later criticisms, it remains indispensable — which is precisely why I compared it to Fritz Fischer’s work on Germany and World War I.