State Formation and Civilization: The Civilizing Process Vol 2 by Norbert Elias

This is Volume 2 of Elias's The Civilizing Process. In it, Elias widens his scope to examine the social, economic, and political changes in European society from the time of Charlemagne to the twentieth century and constructs a highly original theory of the formation of the state and the growth of power. His explanation of the social process by which the private power monopoly of kings turned into the public power monopoly of the modern nation-state concludes with a stunning synopsis proposing the beginnings of a theory of the process of civilization.