Susan Butler was a freelance writer whose work regularly appeared in the New York Times. Her interest in journalism dates back to  Bennington where she was the editor of the student newspaper. She later earned an MA at Columbia University from the School of Arts and Sciences.

She is the author of East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart, which was the basis for the movie Amelia, starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, and My Dear Mr. Stalin: The Complete Correspondence of Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.