The psychological Western was almost the sole interest of Niven Busch. He helped develop the genre with his novels Duel in the Sun (1944) and The Furies (1948) and with his screenplays for such films as The Westerner (1940) and Pursued (1947).

Busch was born in New York City, the son of Christine Fairchild and Briton Niven Busch. He grew up in an upper-class family; his father was a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Busch was educated at Princeton University and graduated in 1924. He became an associate editor at Time magazine in 1927 and later held that position at Newsweek. From his high school days, he had contributed plays and poems to magazines and he became a regular contributor to the New Yorker. In 1931 he devoted his time to free-lance writing and selling fiction to magazines such as Collier's and Liberty.

Between 1932 and 1934 Busch wrote five screenplays or screen stories for...