Buddy Levy is the author of the recent books No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon (with Erik Weihenmeyer), Geronimo: Leadership Strategies of an American Warrior (with Mike Leach), and River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon. His other books include Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs, which was a finalist for the 2009 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and nominated for the 2009 Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award and a 2009 PEN Center USA Award, American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett, and Echoes on Rimrock: In Pursuit of the Chukar Partridge. His books have been published in six languages.

As a freelance journalist, he has covered adventure sports and lifestyle/travel subjects around the world, including several Eco-Challenges and other adventure expeditions in Argentina, Borneo, Europe, Greenland, Morocco, and the Philippines. His magazine articles and essays have appeared in Alaska Beyond, Backpacker, Big Sky Journal, Couloir, Discover, High Desert Journal, Poets & Writers, River Teeth, Ski, Trail Runner, Utne Reader, TV Guide, and VIA. He is clinical associate professor of English at Washington State University, and lives in northern Idaho.