A. B. Guthrie Jr. was born in Bedford, Indiana, in 1901 and grew up largely in Montana. He earned a B.A. in journalism at the University of Montana in 1923, then spent about two decades as a reporter and editor in Kentucky before turning to full-time writing and screenwriting.
His six novels of the Oregon Trail and the development of Montana begin with The Big Sky (1947) and The Way West (1949) and end with Fair Land, Fair Land (1982). The Way West won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He earned an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay of Shane. He died in Choteau, Montana, in 1991.
Source: Wikipedia