A compelling new interpretation of the origin and meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Golb fundamentally challenges those who argue that the writings discovered at Qumran belonged to a small, desert-dwelling fringe sect. Instead, he shows why the scrolls must have been the work of many groups in ancient Judaism, kept in libraries in Jerusalem and smuggled out of the capital just before the Romans attacked in A.D. 70. He describes the scrolls' rich diversity of ideas, and offers a new interpretation of their significance for the evolution of both Judaism and Christianity. maps and illustrations.