'. already has attributes that qualify it for the status of a future classic in the Sociology of Law. Thornhill's new work consolidates, almost definitively, a strong argument about the historical and sociological centrality of empires in the understanding of constitutions, as well as the almost invariable centrality of armies and manifestations of militarism in awakening dynamics of citizenship construction, visibly based on the transition from the figure of the soldier to the form of the citizen. After this book, we can say that all projects that aim to address issues such as the sociological and historical foundations of citizenship can no longer ignore the functional meanings produced by empires and their armies. Otherwise, they will risk conducting legal or political inquiries that just touch the surface of phenomena that are now understood as central to the understanding of democracy.' Guilherme de Azevedo, Revista de Estudos Constitucionais, Hermenêutica e Teoria do Direito.