Former Dole Institute of Politics director, historian and author Richard Norton Smith will discuss his new biography, “On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller” Sunday in Lawrence.

The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at Kansas University’s Dole Institute of Politics, 2350 Petefish Drive. Copies of the recently released biography will be for sale, and Smith will sign books.

“Richard’s new book is arguably the most important political biography of the year,” Dole Institute director Bill Lacy said in a news release. “We look forward to Richard’s depth of knowledge paired with his entertaining anecdotes that will shed new light on Rockefeller’s life and underscore the critical acclaim of his book.”

In “On His Own Terms,” Smith chronicles one of the most iconic and complex figures of the Gilded Age, Nelson Rockefeller, who was a philanthropist, businessman and politician. From his time spent as New York governor to his vice presidency under President Gerald Ford, to his relationships with other key political figures of the time and campaigns for presidency, Rockefeller’s life was one of power and intrigue.

Among other presidential institutions, Smith was director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Presidential Foundation and the Reagan Center for Public Affairs. In 2001, he became the director of the Dole Institute of Politics, supervising the construction of the Institute’s landmark home. In 2003, he was appointed the first executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Since 2006, Smith has been a Scholar in Residence at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.