Dear Eric, Good and fair review of Steve Marglin's book. I reviewed it briefly for the Times Higher. Your review has its share of Jonesian Zingers, but also Jonesian Insights. Steve's book is very well and engagingly written. But I think you're right that his reading of the history is tendentious. For example, it was usually disputes over (say) tithes, that is, among the well-to-do themselves, that determined how quickly an enclosure went forward. Stealing the commons from the goose was a very minor source of profit. And the smallholders generally got a high price for the buying out of their rights, a high price that came from the (modest) increase of efficiency. The level where I think Steve is exactly right, though, is that of ideology. The ideology of Greed Is Good has been available since Mandeville, and grows in popularity, partly, as Steve and I and many others would agree, because it is favored by economists and calculators, and not more than by the recent Sons of Samuelson (the Daughters are more sensible). Regards, Deirdre McCloskey