Wallace, Lew (Lewis Wallace), 1827–1905, American novelist and diplomat, b. Brookville, Ind. He served in both the Mexican and Civil wars. After returning to his law practice in Indiana, he became governor of the Territory of New Mexico (1878–81) and minister to Turkey (1881–85). His famous book, Ben-Hur (1880), has been one of the best-selling novels in American publishing history and was made into several motion pictures. Among his other novels are The Fair God (1873), a story of the conquest of Mexico, and The Prince of India (1893).
(born April 10, 1827, Brookville, Ind., U.S.—died Feb. 15, 1905, Crawfordsville, Ind.) U.S. writer. The son of Indiana's governor, he served in the Mexican War and in the American Civil War, in which he rose to the rank of major general. Later he returned to law practice, interrupted by two diplomatic postings. His literary reputation rests on three historical novels: The Fair God (1873), on the Spanish conquest of Mexico; The Prince of India (1893), on the Byzantine Empire; and, above all, the enormously popular Ben-Hur (1880; films, 1925, 1959), a romantic tale set in the Roman Empire during the time of Christ.
Bibliography
See his autobiography (1906).
Wallace, Lew(is)
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Lew Wallace
(credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
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