Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

"Lew Wallace's book Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was released by Harper & Brothers on November 12, 1880. Wallace's writing falls under a significant kind of historical fiction that is set among New Testament figures. The book was a fantastic bestseller; it quickly overtook Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) as the best-selling American book and held that title until Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was published in 1936. The protagonist is Judah, prince of the Hur family in the Hebrew language. During the stormy years leading up to the birth of Christ, Judah grows up in Jerusalem. Messala, a Roman, is his closest friend. Judah's demise and Messala's result from their adult rivalry and mutual hatred for one another."