Is there a "Rick Steves" of South America?

Which country? South America is huge, I only visited Argentina (which itself is huge) as an independent trip. Footprint guides are very good as background reading material and for planning purposes. I have not found a close substitution for Rick, but did find a company that specializes in travel to several countries. They are called Southern Explorations. I have not taken a tour with them (yet) but am strongly considering them for Ecuador travel in the future.
http://www.southernexplorations.com

You may want to search this forum since folks have posted about Colombia and Ecuador recently (I believe it's either in the Beyond Europe or Trip Report sections).

I'm looking for travel books/resources similar to what Rick has created to aide my independent trip. Destinations are most likely Chile and/or Argentina and/or Peru.

Europe is big and Rick's able to cover it quite well ;)

I'll look into Southern Explorations.

Have you tried your library yet? It's worth poking around to see what they have. Footprint publishes a lot of books on South America, that's the guide I used for Argentina. The only show on tv that gave me any exposure to South American countries on PBS (similar to Rick's shows) was called "Globetrekker", but it wasn't enough for planning purposes (although good enough to whet my appetite for travel there).

I don't know where you are in CA, but I have a favorite travel store in Pasadena, SoCal called "Distant Lands". They are incredible as far as resources go (for countries all around the world), including really good driving maps. I rented a car in Argentina because it helped cover some out of the way places, and distances were great. I wish I had known that I really needed a better map than those contained in the guidebooks.
http://distantlands.com
http://distantlands.com/maps-globes/south-america-maps/

Try the Lonely Planet Travel Guides https://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-america
They also produce a video series called Globe Trekker like Ricks that is shown on PBS
https://www.youtube.com/user/GlobeTrekkerChannel

Check them out at your local library or bookstore to see

As someone else stated, SA is huge. I've been to Quito Ecuador, Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile, Buenos Aires. On a National Geographic tour we did parts of Peru, and haven't even scratched the surface. I went to places I've always wanted to go and did some research online. TripAdvisor was a good help for finding things to see or hotels to stay at. In Ecuador we hired a driver at the hotel and he took us to a number of small towns. SA isn't Europe so some people might have some culture shock. I love SA and have enjoyed each visit there.

I've used the Lonely Planet Guides for my first two trips to SA. The Argentina book had some useful info for side trips to Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil as well. The Ecuador book was also helpful. I just to their Peru guide for next year, hopefully,

A number of people on the Lonely Planet website forum helped me as well.

Be sure to look into vaccination/visa requirements. These vary considerably from country to country and can get somewhat expensive.

I have not had a chance to travel to SA yet, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. However, in speaking with a coworker a couple of weeks ago he told me about his excellent experience with Southern Explorations, which was previously mentioned. That company is out of my price range so I am considering a tour next year with Tucan Travel. Tucan seems more my speed and they offer a lot of different options, although they do bill themselves as an adventure travel company, so it would depend on what kind of trip you're looking for. I hope you find something that suits you!

There's this guy down there called Ricardito Esteban. Do you know of him?

I've taken the OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) trips to Chile/Argentina (includes Patagonia) and Colombia. Both were excellent trips and quite affordable. OAT offers small groups, but caters to an older (over 50) clientele.

I think Larry means Ricardo Steverino! Ricardo doesn't write South American travel guides and regularly recommends Lonely Planet guides.

Definitely the place to visit in SA is Peru with Macchu Picchu as the realm of all if you are looking for history, you can add Lima (2-3 days) for gastrotourism ( besides their rich culture the food is something you have to experience) and colonial history (also the Nazca lines are very close to Lima) at the end it depends of what are you looking.

Brasil is Rio or their Atlantic beaches throughout the country, Argentina especially Buenos Aires with his European flare is very nice.

Lonely Planet I think is the best guide for SA.

If you are looking for tours outside of Europe... I would recommend Gate1 Travel. I've been on several trips/tours with them and liked everyone. Great options/prices/extras
www.gate1travel.com

Ricardo Esteban