It's been 50 years since a Bedouin youth named Muhammed edh-Dhub went looking for a stray sheep and instead found the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the intervening decades, the scrolls have been enveloped in a storm of controversy and bitter conflict: the scholars entrusted with translating and editing the texts sat on many of them instead, creating suspicions that escalated to conspiracy theories about supposed cover-ups of sensitive, even damaging material. Geza Vermes, a former professor of Jewish studies at Oxford and a noted authority on the scrolls, marks the 50th anniversary of Muhammed edh-Dhub's find with his book The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English; the title, however, is misleading, for the collection of documents is by no means complete. Vermes has left out the copies of Hebrew scriptures that are available elsewhere, instead focusing on the sectarian writings of the Essene community at Qumran and the intertestemental texts, and these are indeed complete translations. Vermes has also included an overview of five decades of research on the scrolls and a thumbnail sketch of the Qumran community's history and religion. The Dead Sea Scrolls have generated as much misinformation as information in the 50 years since their discovery. It is fortuitous, then, that this new edition is an English translation of all the existing Dead Sea Scrolls collected together in one volume. Vermes's account of the discovery of the scrolls and the events subsequent to the discovery, including political intrigue, makes for fascinating reading. His discussion of the Essene community, whom Vermes believes created the scrolls, the scrolls' meanings for early Christianity and other topics will be valuable to anyone looking for accurate summaries of the fascinating history of the discovery, translation and transmission of the scrolls.