Did you know? Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published on November 12, 1880 by Harper & Brothers. Wallace's work is part of an important sub-genre of historical fiction set among the characters of the New Testament. The novel was a phenomenal best-seller; it soon surpassed Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) as the best-selling American novel and retained this distinction until the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind.[1] In 1912, Sears Roebuck published one million copies to sell for 39 cents apiece: the largest single-year print edition in American history. The book was also the first work of fiction to be blessed by a Pope.[2] Why the novel? Wallace had an outline for the novel as early as 1873, but it was during a chance meeting on a train with fellow Civil War Union veteran and agnostic lecturer, Robert G. Ingersoll, that he was challenged to think about his beliefs. Wallace noted that he knew little about Jesus and subsequently began to research the historical setting for the Messianic events. (Source: Wikipedia)
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