Like in Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox and Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, journalist Emily Brady journeys into a unique, secretive subculture-a place that marijuana built.

Say the words "Humboldt County" to a stranger and you might receive a knowing grin. HUMBOLDT is a narrative exploration of this infamous and insular community in Northern California that has existed primarily on the cultivation and sale of marijuana for decades. It's a place where business is done with thick wads of cash and savings are buried in plastic pickle barrels in the backyard.

In Humboldt, marijuana supports everything from fire departments to schools, but it comes with a heavy price. As legalization looms, the community stands at a crossroads and its inhabitants are deeply split on the issue-some want to claim their rightful heritage as master growers, others want to continue reaping the inflated profits of the black market. Emily Brady spent a year living in this highly secretive community so that she could take readers inside this virtually unknown world of eccentric characters that is undergoing a radical transformation while teetering on the edge of legality.