Book excerpt: The Prince of India: Why Constantinople Fell follows the adventures of the Wandering Prince who takes his role in the creating of history, by stepping into the service of Turkish Sultan and gets involved in Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. Lew Wallace (1827-1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, politician, diplomat and author, best known for his historical adventure story, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, a bestselling novel that has been called "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century." He wrote several historical novels and biographies of American generals.