John W. Kingdon vs. Gore Vidal
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
John W. Kingdon
1940 – present
John Wells Kingdon is professor emeritus and was Acting Chair of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was a Guggenheim fellow. He resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is also a fellow at the Center for Advanced Behavioral Studies at Stanford. He served as Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan and as President of the Midwest Political Science Association, and has often been a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution.
"A good idea catches on, snowballing as it picks up adherents. Sometimes a bad idea does the same."
Gore Vidal
1925 – 2012
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his cynical epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays criticized the social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Vidal was heavily involved in politics, and unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives, and later in 1982 to the United States Senate.
"Must one have a heart of stone to read The Ballad of Reading Gaol without laughing? And did not De Profundis plumb for all time the shallows of the most reporte…"