It’s finally here—THE BIG ONE! In recognition of Holy Week, The Gibson Girl Review is diving into one of the most famous, most-adapted, best-loved, and best-selling books of all time—Lew Wallace’s blockbuster epic, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). While Amy has been a huge fan of this story since childhood, Katja was a first-time reader who knew almost nothing about it. From two such opposite ends of the spectrum, will our hosts end up agreeing on this classic novel? Plus they welcome their very first guest reader on the show. Tune in for their most dramatic and most heartfelt episode yet!
Topics and shout-outs in today’s episode include: Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Easter, the chariot race, Anne of Green Gables, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, blockbusters, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, the Civil War, the Super Bowl, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, philanthropy wars, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, the YMCA, Chautauqua, Sears Roebuck & Co., the Social Gospel movement, the Panic of 1873, consumerism, copyright laws, agnosticism, Charlton Heston, the Academy Awards, salvation, revenge, redemption, love, love triangles, slavery, father figures, and Broadway.
FOR FURTHER READING, WE RECOMMEND:
Wallace, Lewis and Susan Wallace. Lew Wallace: An Autobiography. Harper & Brothers, 1906.
Solomon, Jon. Ben-Hur: The Original Blockbuster. Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Ryan, Barbara (ed.) Bigger than Ben-Hur: The Book, Its Adaptations, and Their Audiences. Syracuse University Press, 2016.
Ryan, Barbara. Chronicling Ben-Hur’s Climb, 1880-1924. Routledge, 2019.
