Ralph W. Crosby

Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominee

Memoirs of a Main Street Boy: Growing Up in America’s Ancient City: (230pp, 6X9”, $35: Hardcover: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-271-5; $20: Softcover: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-272-2; $2.99: EBook: ISBN-13: 978-1-68114-273-9; LCCN: 2016941194; Memoir; Release: September 1, 2016; Purchase on Amazon or Barnes & Noble): Ralph Crosby’s Memoirs of a Main Street Boy tells the tale of growing up at a tempestuous time in U.S. history—from the Great Depression, through World War II and the Cold War—in a town where America’s colonial history was even more tempestuous, amid homes and institutions that still exist. The story takes you through the author’s interplay with these historic places and events that helped shape U.S. history, as well as shaping his life and those of his generation.

Told from recollection and experiences of a child grown to manhood, the book combines the story of Annapolis Maryland’s unique place in American history with its typical small town life, made atypical by its Chesapeake Bay location and its unique institutions, such as the U.S. Naval Academy—wonderful playgrounds for a child of the mid-20^th century. This is not an autobiography. It is a memoir of growing up in one of the country’s most disruptive yet most dynamic eras—from the end of the Great Depression, through World War II to the Cold War. That the growing up occurred in and around places where Washington, Jefferson and Franklin and their comrades planned war and made peace gives the story a unique perspective.

“Book blends personal memories with small-town Annapolis’ unique place in American history.” –De Castillo, Annapolis Patch, September 16, 2016

Poker, Politics & Presidents: How Card Playing and Other Games Impacted the Presidency—From George Washington to Joe Biden (Softcover: $29: 450pp, 6X9”, ISBN: 979-8-378603-95-4; Hardcover: $34: ISBN: 979-8-378604-21-0; Kindle: $2.99; LCCN: 2023903383; Nonfiction—Political Science—Political Process—Leadership; Released: February 28, 2023; Purchase on Amazon) reveals the significant influence card playing and other games had on U.S. Presidents—from George Washington to Joe Biden—and, therefore, impacted all Americans. The book illustrates how almost all presidents played games and used other pastimes to escape the overbearing stresses of the presidency. But equally—if not more—importantly, the book describes how cognitive games, such as poker and chess, go far beyond stress relief, creating a link between those games and politics. The book discusses how numerous presidents used the camaraderie of poker games to their political advantage, some creating contacts that helped their rise to the presidency. It also details the author’s discovery that the highest rated presidents were card players, which helped in their strategic thinking, risk-taking, bluffing and ability to read their opponents—skills explained through game theory, a science that the book examines.

Ralph W. Crosby has spent a multifaceted career as a journalist, author and marketer. Currently, he is the chairman of Crosby Marketing Communications, a national ad/PR firm he founded in 1973.

A graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism, Ralph began his professional life as a newspaperman in Baltimore, later becoming a White House Correspondent and magazine writer during the Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson presidential years, culminating his journalistic career in 1972 as an editor with the Kiplinger organization.

During his Washington correspondent years, Ralph was a member of the National Press Club and a devotee of its card room, where the old timers talked about the poker playing of presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, which later became part of the genesis for this book.

Poker, Politics, and Presidents is Ralph’s fourth book. He previously published Memoirs of a Main Street Boy, a book about his youth in Annapolis, Maryland, blended with that city’s extraordinary Colonial history, and two business marketing books: It’s the Customer, Stupid! and Person-to-Person Management.

He has published numerous articles in national magazines, has lectured at the University of Maryland and taught writing courses at Anne Arundel Community College.

Crosby Marketing Communications, one of the nation’s most successful independent PR firms, has more than 100 employees and offices in Annapolis and the Washington, D.C. area. Ralph lives in his hometown, Annapolis, with his wife, Carlotta.