[9] Stengel was born in New York City into a Jewish family, and raised in Westchester County where he attended Scarsdale High School.

[13] Stengel left Time in 1999, to become a senior advisor and chief speechwriter for Bill Bradley who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the 2000 presidential election.

[14][15] As announced by Time Inc. in May 2000, Stengel replaced Richard Duncan in the role and took on the responsibilities of overseeing news coverage and editorial content.

[3] He succeeded Joe Torsella (who resigned and unsuccessfully sought a seat in the U.S. House from the 13th district) in the position, with the role of raising the center's profile, adding to its endowment, and increasing the number of visitors.

Explaining the analogy, Stengel stated his belief that there "needs to be an effort along the lines of preparing for World War II to combat global warming and climate change".

[24] Under his leadership, Time has reported on significant world events such as its coverage of the Iraq war, which he describes in an editorial as necessary in order to remind people not to "turn away",[25] and the 2008 presidential campaign.

[38] Among other coverage, the interview drew media attention for Morsi's remarks on the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes.

[39][40] On September 12, 2013, Stengel announced he would be leaving TIME magazine for a role as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs,[4] the role responsible for leading "America's public diplomacy outreach, which includes communications with international audiences, cultural programming, academic grants, educational exchanges, international visitor programs, and U.S. Government efforts to confront ideological support for terrorism," according to the State Department's website.

[4] Stengel modernized the State Department's communications efforts, including getting all embassies on social media and using new digital platforms to help America tell its story abroad.

[47] In September 2007, Stengel wrote a Time cover story called "The Case For National Service" in which he argued that Americans needed to redouble their efforts to get involved in community service and volunteerism, and that the presidential candidates needed to make the issue a top priority in the 2008 presidential campaign.

[50] Stengel served as co-moderator of the forum, along with PBS journalist Judy Woodruff, and both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain answered questions in front of a live audience at Columbia University about their plans for national service.

Senator Harris Wofford and others, in front of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor about the importance of national service,[54] leading to the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (H.R.

[7] In 1992, he signed a ghostwriting deal with publishers Little, Brown to work on the book, having first been cleared by the African National Congress as a suitable author.

[7] The book was published in 1995, and was praised by the Financial Times, which stated: "Their collaboration produced surely one of the great autobiographies of the 20th century".

[60][61] The book drew praise from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, as well as Deepak Chopra and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.[61] In 2012, Stengel edited and wrote the lead essay for the book The Constitution: The Essential User's Guide, which explored the relevance of the U.S. Constitution in modern-day events.

[62] In 2019, Stengel published Information Wars, which has been praised by Madeleine Albright, Walter Isaacson and Jon Meacham.

[9][65][66][67][68] AudioFile called it “a compelling work that makes history come alive.”[69] Stengel is married to Mary Pfaff, a native of South Africa.