Ben-Hur

A Tale of the Christ

By: Lew Wallace

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

A classic of faith, fortitude, and inspiration, this faithful New Testament tale combines the events of the life of Jesus with grand historical spectacle in the exciting story of Judah of the House of Hur, a man who finds extraordinary redemption for himself and his family.

Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the first century. His old friend, Messala, arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions. They become bitter enemies. Because of an unfortunate accident, Ben-Hur is sent as a slave in the mines, while his family is sent to leprosy caves. As Messala is dying from being crushed in a chariot race, he reveals where Ben-Hur's family is. On the road to find them, Ben-Hur meets the Christ as he is on the road to Golgotha to be crucified. That day changes Ben-Hur's life forever, for that is the day he becomes a believer.

Public Domain (P)2011 Tantor

Ben-Hur - The Old, Great Story

I have seen the movie many times and wanted to read the book. Obviously, this book has the same elements as the movie. However, it is must longer and slower. For the increase investment, you get a great of detail about personalities and events that we left out or combined. There is a great of detail that the author, an interesting person himself, has included about the region, the habits and circumstances of the times. The discussion of leprosy and the Roman administration were very helpful to frame the story.

I recommend to read this book but it is not immediate read. If you want a quicker read, there is new version written by Lew Wallace's descendant that is abridged and updated but has many of the same elements. It is this version that the latest movie version used.

Excellent Classic

I'm thrilled to be able to listen to this American Classic. Thanks for making it available here.

Ben-Hur

The book was so well researched and the detailed scenes make the reader see a whole new concept of the story. Loved the asides and the ending makes you cry

Great Book

I first heard of this book after over hearing a conversation a few years back about how great it was at library book sale. I really didn't buy it at the time because generally speaking Christian fiction books aren't well written. After discovering C.S. Lewis, I decided to give Ben Hur a try and it is very well written. My only complaints are there are some parts that are a bit painful to get through as the characters can't see what the audience already figured out, but these are few and far between. Retrospectively, those parts fade away, and I strongly recommend this book.

Beautifully crafted novel.

This wonderfully written story focuses upon people who are on the periphery of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during the time of his first visit among us. Quite a lot of insight really makes the time in history easy to visualize for the reader. Todd McLaren's narration is expressive and alive, you can hear his love for the lyrical and rhythmic way that the novelist writes. Much more emotion than other narrations I've heard from this novel. I usually listen to a book at 1.5 or 2 x faster to get through it quickly. Not this one! I actually savoured the poetry of the story because of the narration. Thank you, Mr. McLaren, you performed perfectly one of the greatest novels ever written!

Ben-Hur

This book is a book everyone should read who loves adventure. The book is defiantly emotional and is extremely good. The narrator is also very good, and has good voices for each character. The book is about Ben-Hur who meets the Christ at the end doing wonderful things. Definitely a good book!

great!

very well done. the narrator was consistent with voices and had good inflection. The story was well performed!

this book is very worthwhile

loved it very good and I recommend it highly. could not stop reading this wonderful story.

Most Excellent!

Excellent literature, plot, storytelling, narration, and content. Far greater is Ben-Hur than all that ever flowed from the hands of novel writers since.

There is more than I ever knew to this story…

If I had attempted to read this book, I most likely would have not made it past the first several chapters as it is written in old, high English. However, listening to it in audiobook format opened my world to the entirety of Judah Ben-Hur. The story is gripping and well written. It will have you cheering and crying. To think that it was only written approximately 150 years ago as opposed to several hundred years ago is beyond belief. The narration by Mr. Todd McLaren adds much to the story as he, without fail or fatigue of voice, captures the intensity and the emotion present throughout the book. His ability to add personality to the characters through specific voices and accents is very much appreciated and adds another level of life to the story. I highly recommend anyone reading this review enjoy the entirety of the unabridged Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.