Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Complete and Unabridged
(Ben-Hur is one of the best selling books of all times. Th...)
Ben-Hur is one of the best selling books of all times. This poignant novel intertwines the life stories of a Jewish charioteer named Judah Ben-Hur and Jesus Christ. It explores the themes of betrayal and redemption. Ben-Hur's family is wrongly accused and convicted of treason during the time of Christ. Ben-Hur fights to clear his family's name and is ultimately inspired by the rise of Jesus Christ and his message. A powerful, compelling novel.
Lew Wallace: An Autobiography, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)
(Fnmtispieoe HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL LEW WALLACE WAS BORN, ...)
Fnmtispieoe HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL LEW WALLACE WAS BORN, BROOKVILLE, INDIANA Fadngp.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.
Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
(Frontispiece LEW WALLACE, AGE 40 Facing p. 884 GENERAL WA...)
Frontispiece LEW WALLACE, AGE 40 Facing p. 884 GENERAL WALLACES STUDY .
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.
Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (World's Best Reading)
(A spiritual tale of the quest for love, the recovery of i...)
A spiritual tale of the quest for love, the recovery of identity and patrimony, Ben-Hur never fails to delight in its detail and realism. As David Mayer's introduction makes explicit, Ben-Hur is marked by traces of contemporary issues and American Victorian concerns and tensions which shed important light on social and cultural history.
Lewis Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana.
Background
Lewis Wallace was born at Brookville, Indiana, the son of David and Esther French (Test) Wallace. His mother, to whom he was deeply attached, died during his boyhood. He early displayed a love of adventure; his father tried to keep him in school, but the boy was irked by ordinary tasks and preferred to draw caricatures or to play truant. As he grew older, however, he carried his books to the woods as often as his gun and rod. When his father was elected governor of Indiana in 1837 and the family moved to Indianapolis, Lew's zest for reading was stimulated by the advantages of the state library. Before he was sixteen he began to support himself by copying records in the county clerk's office. About the same time, Prescott's Conquest of Mexico made such a deep impression upon him that he determined to write upon the theme. Thus The Fair God of later years had its inception.
Education
In 1844-45 he reported the proceedings of the Indiana House of Representatives for the Indianapolis Daily Journal, and soon afterwards began the study of law in his father's office.
Career
When the Mexican War began, he raised a company of which he became second lieutenant and which was assigned to the 16t Indiana Infantry. His services in Mexico gave him experience without involving him in the dangers of any serious engagement. He campaigned against Taylor in 1848 and edited a Free-Soil paper, chiefly because of resentment against Taylor's treatment of the Indiana regiments. Following the campaign he became a Democrat. Admitted to the bar in 1849, he began practice in Indianapolis. Soon he moved to Covington, and in 1850 and 1852 was elected prosecuting attorney. In 1853 he changed his residence to Crawfordsville, and in 1856 was elected to the state Senate. There he advocated a reform in divorce laws and in 1859 proposed the popular election of United States senators. In the summer of 1856 he had organized a military company at Crawfordsville which he drilled so efficiently that most of its members became officers in the Civil War. After Fort Sumter was fired upon, Gov. O. P. Morton made him adjutant-general of the state. Within a week he had 130 companies in camp, seventy more than the state quota, and was made colonel of the 11th Regiment. Soon at the front, he helped to capture Romney, on the South Branch of the Potomac, and to evict the enemy from Harpers Ferry. An excellent disciplinarian and popular with his men, he was promoted rapidly. On September 3, 1861, he was made a brigadier-general and on March 21, 1862, after his service at the capture of Fort Donelson, Tenn. , a major-general. Unfortunately, he incurred the ill will of General Halleck, who twice removed him from command; the first time he was restored by President Lincoln, the second time, by General Grant. In November 1862, he was president of the military commission that investigated the operations of the army under Maj. -Gen. D. C. Buell. The following year he saved Cincinnati from capture by Gen. E. Kirby-Smith, after which event the President gave him command of the Middle Division and VIII Army Corps, with headquarters at Baltimore. With 5, 800 men, part of them inexperienced, he held a force of 28, 000 under Gen. Jubal A. Early at the Monocacy, July 9, 1864. Though defeated, he probably saved Washington from capture, and was highly commended by Grant in his Memoirs. He served on the court-martial which tried the assassins of Lincoln, and was president of the court that tried and convicted Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville Prison. At the close of the war he undertook to procure munitions and to raise a corps of veterans for the Mexican liberals, and spent sometime in Mexico. Returning to Crawfordsville, he practised law, and in 1870 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket. In 1878 he was appointed governor of New Mexico, serving until 1881, when President Garfield appointed him minister to Turkey. There he lived for four years, 1881-85, winning the confidence of the Sultan to an unusual degree. In 1890 he declined an offer of the mission to Brazil tendered by President Harrison. Wallace is best known, however, as a man of letters. In 1873 he published The Fair God, a story of the conquest of Mexico, which won him wide recognition. The fame thus attained was greatly enhanced by Ben Hur; A Tale of the Christ (1880), of which 300, 000 copies were sold within ten years. It was translated into a number of foreign languages, including Arabic and Chinese, and was successfully dramatized. The extraordinary success of this work was largely due to the fact that the greatest figure in history was with the deepest reverence brought into a strong story dramatically told. Among his other publications were The Life of Benjamin Harrison (1888), written for campaign purposes; The Boyhood of Christ (1888); The Prince of India (1893), inspired by his stay in Constantinople; and The Wooing of Malkatoon (1898), a poem, with which was included Commodus, a tragedy, written many years earlier. In 1906 appeared Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, which Wallace had brought down only to 1864, but which was sketchily completed by his wife and Mary H. Krout. He called his wife "a composite of genius, common-sense, and all best womanly qualities". She was a frequent contributor to newspapers and periodicals, and one of her poems, "The Patter of Little Feet, " had wide popularity. Other publications by her include The Storied Sea (1883); Ginèvra: or The Old Oak Chest (1887); The Land of the Pueblos (1888); and The Repose in Egypt (1888). His last years were serene. He lectured frequently and received unstinted praise. He died at Crawfordsville, and five years after his death his statue was unveiled in the Capitol at Washington as representative of the state of Indiana.
(Frontispiece LEW WALLACE, AGE 40 Facing p. 884 GENERAL WA...)
Religion
Never a church member, he believed in the divinity of Christ.
Personality
Wallace's poise and urbanity marked him as a man of the world, yet he was simple in taste and democratic in ideals. For politics he had no aptitude; the law he did not like; the military life challenged his adventurous spirit but could not hold him after his country had no special use for his services; art, music, and literature were his most vital and permanent interests. Many a young person had reason to remember the gracious hospitality of his study, built as "a pleasure-house for my soul. "
Connections
On May 6, 1852, he married Susan Arnold, born in Crawfordsville, the daughter of Col. Isaac C. and Maria Aken Elston.