British journalist and historian, Stonor Saunders is a regular contributor to media such as The Guardian, New Statesman and Arete, and is especially known for his work on documentaries for the BBC. He began his career as a documentary filmmaker for British television. His first book of essays, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, was developed from his previous documentary work Hidden Hands: A Different History of Modernism (Channel 4, 1995), and has been translated into more than ten languages, was won the Royal Historical Society's Gladstone Memorial prize.

Many of his works reflect his academic background as a medievalist. His second book, The Devil's Broker recounts the life and career of John Hawkwood a fourteenth-century condottiere of English origin who made a remarkable career in political power of the papacy. In 2005, after some years as art editor and associate editor of the New Statesman, he resigned in protest at the dismissal of Peter Wilby, former editor. In 2004 and 2005, presented at Meeting of Minds Radio 3, two sets of three parts each, on meetings of intellectuals in several important points of the story. He is also a regular contributor to Nightwaves and several other radio programs.