>
> So let's hear something about the better explanations. References to "many
> already existing works" that are never named grate on one's nerves.
There's Michael Mann's 'Sources of Social Power' - a complex sociological treatment of the evolution of states and economies since neolithic times. It's not always convincing but it works as a good guide to the historiographical debates, at least as they stood in the 1980s. It's really an updating of Weber, putting a lot of weight on religion, but he engages a lot with the marxist literature, especially around the rise of capitalism.
Mike