An immediate best-seller on publication, Ben Hur remains a dazzling achievement by any standards. A thoroughly exhilarating tale of betrayal, revenge and salvation, it is the only novel that ranks with Uncle Tom's Cabin as a genuine American folk possession. This was the book that finally overcame the inherent suspicion of fiction that still prevailed in much of America in the late nineteenth century. Wallace writes with a freshness and immediacy that brings every action-packed scene to life and vividly illuminates the geography, ethnology and customs of the ancient world. AUTHOR: The writing career of Lew Wallace (1827-1905) was very much a supplement to an eventful life. His military career started with the Mexican American war of 1846, and in the American Civil War he reached the rank of Major-General. Subsequently he became governor of New Mexico, and then U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire. In the midst of all this activity, he found time to write 'Ben-Hur', a novel of the later days of the Roman Empire, and the early days of Christianity, which became one of the best-selling American novels of the nineteenth century.