It was first published in serial format in The Atlantic Monthly starting in January 1898,[1] and as a single volume late in the same year.

It was ranked as the tenth-highest best selling book overall in the United States for 1898,[2] and appeared as high as Number 2 on the monthly bestseller list published in The Bookman in early 1899.

[4][5][6] The title is derived from Ecclesiastes 9:11, "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.

"[7] Willis Steell and Edward Everett Rose adapted the novel into a play in 1900, which starred Maurice Barrymore and Marie Burroughs.

[8] Of the play, Parker later remarked that "the adaption, however, was lacking much, and though Miss Marie Burroughs and Maurice Barrymore played in it, success did not attend its dramatic life.