In addition to having served in the military, Wallace’s father also served the state of Indiana as lieutenant governor and governor. Lew Wallace was born into a military and political family in Brookville, Indiana in 1827. The story behind the writing of this book is both inspirational and tragic. Grant wrote to its author, General Lew Wallace, to inform him that he was so enthralled by the book that he stayed up thirty hours straight to read it. Captivating in its original literary form as a book, President Ulysses S. The conversion of the main character, Ben-Hur, at the end of the feature is one of the most moving and affirming scenes of Christian cinematography. One of the traditions our family shared when our children were younger was the viewing of Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur around the Easter season. The story behind the composition of this time-honored classic is one worthy of being rehearsed on a regular basis, and no season of the year is more fitting for its telling than the Easter season. there resides a full-body statue of General Lew Wallace, Civil War hero and author of the literary classic, Ben Hur. The novel reflects themes of betrayal, conviction, and redemption, with a revenge plot that leads to a story of love and compassion.In the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Running in parallel with Judah's narrative is the unfolding story of Jesus, who comes from the same region and is a similar age. The story recounts in descriptive detail the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a fictional Jewish prince from Jerusalem who is enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the 1st century and becomes a charioteer and a Christian. The success of the novel and its stage and film adaptations also helped it to become a popular cultural icon that was used to promote numerous commercial products. The novel was blessed by Pope Leo XIII, the first work of fiction to be so honored. The 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur was seen by tens of millions and won eleven Academy Awards in 1960, after which the book's sales increased and it surpassed Gone with the Wind. Ben-Hur remained at the top of the bestseller lists until the publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936). The book also inspired other novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture productions.

It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published by Harper & Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered 'the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century'.

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