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.