Ben-Hur. The Story of Christ

Lewis Wallace (1827–1905) — an American writer, lawyer, statesman, and military figure. He was born in a small town of Brookville, Indiana. Lewis was the second of four children of David Wallace, the sixth governor of Indiana, and his wife Esther Test, the daughter of a congressman. The future writer lost his mother early and was raised by his stepmother, Zerelda Sanders. Zerelda's religious beliefs influenced the boy, and she likely became the prototype for the mother of his literary hero Ben-Hur. At around sixteen, Wallace began earning a living on his own while studying law at his father's law office. In 1846, the young man volunteered to participate in the war with Mexico. After returning home, he completed his education and started his own legal practice, and in 1852, he married Susan Elston; a year later, the couple had their only son. The family settled in Crawfordsville, and soon Wallace was elected to a two-year term in the Indiana Senate from the Democratic Party. When the Civil War broke out, Lewis joined the Union army. He participated in major battles and became one of the youngest officers in the Northern army to attain the rank of major general. Wallace did not leave the service after the war: as a member of a military commission, he judged those involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and also investigated crimes committed by Southerners in a prisoner-of-war camp. In 1878, Lewis became the governor of the New Mexico Territory, where he fought against outbreaks of crime for three years. After this term, Wallace received a new appointment: President James Garfield, impressed by Lewis's novel "Ben-Hur," gave the writer the opportunity to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. This period became one of the brightest in Wallace's life. While in Constantinople, he actively collected materials for a new novel and demonstrated a deep interest in the local culture and history. The result of his work was the novel "The Fall of Constantinople."

After retiring, Wallace devoted himself to literature. Having lived a life full of significant events, he could accurately reflect the knowledge he gained in his works. It was his novels that brought him global fame. The most famous among them is the one first published in 1880, "Ben-Hur." Lewis wrote this novel over seven years. Its plot tells about the difficult journey of the Jewish youth Judah Ben-Hur, striving to free his people from the oppression of the Romans. "Ben-Hur" instantly won the reader's love and achieved such popularity that several adaptations were made based on it. In this edition, the text is accompanied by illustrations from artists of the early 20th century.