River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana and the Deadly First Voyage through the Amazon

Praise for Buddy Levy and River of Darkness “In River of Darkness , Buddy Levy recounts Orellana's headlong dash down the Amazon. Like Mr. Levy's last book, Conquistador , about the conquest of Mexico, River of Darkness presents a fast-moving tale of triumph over seemingly insurmountable nodds. . . . Though impromptu, the expedition was one of the most amazingn adventures of all time.” — Wall Street Journal “ River of Darkness immediately takes its place as the definitive nbook on one of the great voyages into the unknown of all time, nOrellana's accidental first descent of the Amazon. Not only is it a nsolid contribution to the scholarly literature on Amazonia, but it is a nriveting and irresistible read, narrative history of a literary quality nrarely encountered that compares with Alan Moorehead's great books on nthe Nile. Bravissimo!” —Alex Shoumatoff, contributing editor, Vanity Fair ; publisher, DispatchesFromTheVanishingworld.com, and author of In Southern Light , The Rivers Amazon , and The World is Burning “In River of Darkness , Buddy Levy proves that the scariest nstories are the true ones. Filled with fascinating details and the nterror that comes with exploring something for the very first time, thisn is history coming back to life.” —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The Book of Fate and The Inner Circle “Buddy Levy’s compulsively readable book about the first Europeanndescent through the Amazon puts us right next to thenvampire-bat-and-mosquito-bitten conquistadors and on a wild ride through the mightynriver and a force of nature down to the Atlantic Ocean.” —Andrés Reséndez,nauthor of National Book Award Finalist The Other Slavery and Conqueringnthe Pacific “Buddy Levy is one of those rare and gifted authors whose books are nvirtual time machines that effortlessly transport us back through ncenturies. In River of Darkness , we participate in one of nhistory’s signal explorations, Francisco Orellana’s descent of the nAmazon River. We see blood, smell smoke, hear screams of joy and agony. n Levy’s impeccably researched book is at once harrowing adventure and nrevealing history. Better than any in recent memory, River of Darkness sheds new light—and reveals the darkest aspects—of the Conquistadors’ brave and bloody New World forays.” —James M. Tabor, Author of Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth “In this fluid account, Levy narrates the story of the conquistadors whon become the first Europeans to navigate the length of the Amazon River. nAfter plundering the Inca empire, Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco Orellanan set out from Quito with an expedition of soldiers and Indian slaves in nsearch of El Dorado. The two explorers became separated and the nexpedition quickly became lost in the jungle, then decimated by disease,n starvation, and native attacks. Desperate, Orellana and the remaining nconquistadors built a large boat and sailed downriver. Realizing that hen would be unable to wait for Pizarro, Orellana set his sights on the nAtlantic Ocean thousands of miles away. Levy does a fine job of norganizing an enormous amount of historical material and balancing the naccounts of Orellana and Pizarro after they separated. As one conflict nfollows another in rapid succession, they tend to blur into each other, nthough Levy provides enough descriptive detail and pacing to ndifferentiate between the various native groups and aspects of the nriver. He also addresses the new archeological research that is changingn our understanding of the cultures of the pre-Columbian Amazon Basin.” — Publishers Weekly “Annexciting, well-plotted excursion down the Amazon River with the early Spanishnconquistador. . . . [A] richly textured account of the rogue, rebel andnvisionary whose discovery still resonates today.” —Kirkus Reviews “An rollicking adventure . . . Levy successfully conveys the Amazon’s powern and majesty, while shedding light on the futility of humanity’s attemptn to tame it.” — The A.V. Club Buddy Levy is the author of seven books, and his work has been featured or reviewed in The New York Times , NPR , The Wall Street Journal , USA Today , The Washington Post , The Washington Times , The Daily Beast , and The A.V. Club . He was the co-star, for 25 episodes from 2010-2012, on HISTORY Channel’s hit docuseries Brad Meltzer’s Decoded , which aired to an average of 1.7 million weekly viewers and is still airing as reruns today. In 2018 he was an on-camera expert on the 4-part TV Series The Frontiersmen: The Men Who Built America (HISTORY, Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio). Levy was a contributing writer on the 2018 documentary film The Weight of Water , based in part on the book No Barriers, which Levy co-authored with blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer. Levy’s most recent book is the Banff Adventure Travel Award-winner Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition . Levy is the author of the National Bestseller No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon (with Erik Weihenmayer); and Geronimo: The Life and Times of An American Warrior (co-authored with Coach Mike Leach). His other books include the critically acclaimed and Amazon #1 Bestseller Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs ; 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 seven languages.