Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Unabridged, large size (8.5x11 inches, 21.59 x 27.94 cm) print on cream paper with small (9-point) type and three column format.
In 1876, former Union general Law Wallace (1827-1905) sets out to a meeting of Civil War veterans. In the train to Indianapolis, he talks with Ingersoll, a fellow veteran and an atheist. After this talk, Wallace's own ignorance of religion strikes him as problematic. He resolves to study the whole matter:
A number of practical suggestions assailed me: How should I conduct the study? Delve into theology? I shuddered. The theology of the professors had always seemed to me an indefinitely deep pit filled with the bones of unprofitable speculations... Next the subject was considered dry. Was there no way of making it the least bit light and savory? No incidental employment or task which could give it a color of pastime, and, while compelling thorough investigation, keep me interested? Then it came!
Ben-Hur was first published in 1880. Contemporary literary critics found its romanticism passé, but readers resonated with its mix of romanticism, spirituality, and action.
The story is set in the Holy Land between the reigns of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and Nero (54-68 AD). It depicts the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman falsely accused of an attempted assassination. Trying to find his way between revenge and material success, Judah realizes that serving a spiritual king could be a third option.
It is perfectly true that Ben-Hur appealed chiefly to the unsophisticated an unliterary. People who had read much else of worth rarely read Ben-Hur.— The New York Times, 1905