I dunno if I can write this before I run out of steam so I will get through as much as I can

IDK but I remembered that despite my sheltered childhood cough raised in a cult cough

I read A LOT of books

I especially liked Ben-Hur for godknowswhy and I still have this nostalgia attached to it which I mostly blame Gore Vidal's hot takes but I digress

the story is that basically the book was born from an argument between Ingersoll and Wallace and it's kind of a folktale that no one really knows if it's true or not

but basically Ingersoll is the one everyone quotes on "The idea of hell was born of ignorance, brutality, fear, cowardice, and revenge." and other things I've seen in popular culture in the last couple years

but basically Ben-Hur was like ... a moral argument/response to it.

do I agree with everything? heck nah, but imo the 2016 film as much as people think it was kinda trash and constantly forcing "brother" into things... they ended the movie on a much better unification note than ... the book or any other adaptation has bothered doing

so without getting into super detail, it's much gayer of an ending than anything else.

but like also Wallace was a Civil War general, he saved DC from getting attacked by Confederates (I might be remembering wrong there but I'm too tired to wiki and I will correct later)

and the military basically gave him whatever military outpost he wanted and he got a little bitty remote one somewhere in New Mexico and he kept doing research and writing this book by candlelight and his wife kept saying to put out the light because Billy the Kid would shoot him.

also like there's some connection to Walt Whitman that I'm forgetting but the only thing that my brain is yelling is Whitman and Oscar Wilde had a NIGHT and that means I should probably be in bed