Carl Hoffman is a second generation native of Washington, D.C., a graduate of the District of Columbia public schools.

Hoffman is a former contributing editor at Wired magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and Popular Mechanics, and has published articles in Outside, Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Popular Mechanics and many others.

Hoffman has traveled to Afghanistan, Sudan, Congo, New Guinea, Greenland, Mongolia, Russia, China, Indonesia and more than 80 other countries on assignment Liar's Circus: A Strange and Terrifying Journey Into the Upside-Down World Of Trump's MAGA Rallies (2020) journeys deep inside Donald Trump's rallies, seeking to understand the strange and powerful tribe that forms the president's base.

The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure (2018) is a dual biography of Swiss rain forest activist Bruno Manser and American hippie Michael Palmieri, who traveled throughout Borneo collecting its tribal art.

Hoffman learned to speak Bahasa Indonesia and lived in a remote village amid 10,000 square miles of road-less swamp with the Asmat, a tribe of former headhunters and cannibals on the southwest coast of New Guinea.