1. Wallace, what an interesting life!
2. The literary Ben-Hur story is different from the Charlton Heston theatrical version.
3. Leave it to God to use a renowned agnostic to spur on an inchoate believer who, in time, would write a book which contributed to the expansion of the kingdom.
Bump for later!
Gen. Wallace is one of my ancestors. Thanks for the post about him. I obviously knew about Ben Hur but did not know much about his life prior.
Thanks for the post! Ben-Hur has been one of my favourite books since I was nine. I was very much a fan of the Anne of Green Gables books, and when Anne got in trouble for reading it, why, I just had to go find it and read it to :)
Lew Wallace also wrote another novel called THE FAIR GOD about the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
In one chapter a Spanish soldier stumbles into the fabled underground city under the Aztec capitol.
There he finds one of the Aztec maidens and he escorts her out to the daylight. As they walk, he tells her of Christ and by the time they reach the exit to this underground city she has accepted Christ as Savior.
Upon opening the door to get out of the undeground city they find the Spanish and Aztecs embroiled in a hot war. She is struck by an errant crossbow shaft and dies a Christian saint.
This book was re-published in 1962 in paperback as a prelude to Warner Brothers making a movie (SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!) of it. The movie never was done.
Victor Davis Hanson has talked and written about Lew Wallace and Ben-Hur. I have no idea where to find it, but it's worth a read if you can locate it.
Wallace didn't keep his promises to Billy The Kid though.