[1] He has written on the topic of prohibition of drugs, the economics of the American Civil War, and the "Skyscraper Index".

[4] Thornton grew up in Geneva, New York, in an Irish Catholic family of entrepreneurs who were "Democrat in politics".

[6] He is now a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute,[3] where he is book review editor for its Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.

"[9] Reviewer David R. Henderson of the Hoover Institution wrote, "Thornton's book contains much valuable information on prohibition and cites many sources.

In 1988, he became the first Libertarian Party office-holder in Alabama when he was elected Constable, a local law-enforcement position.