In addition to his academic work, Crowe also writes nonfiction and novels for young-adult readers, including Mississippi Trial, 1955.
He was a Catholic while growing up, but shortly before going away to college, a friend gave him a copy of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder; that book also included an account of Joseph Smith's first vision.
Reading this account and identifying with it was a key catalyst to Crowe joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[4] Crowe taught English and coached football and track at McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona, for ten years.[when?]
Books he has written include From the Outside Looking In: Short Stories for LDS Teenagers and Fatherhood, Football and Turning Forty: Confessions of a Middle-Aged Mormon Male, Presenting Mildred D. Taylor, Teaching the Selected Works of Mildred D. Taylor, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, and Up Close: Thurgood Marshall.
Crowe edited with Jesse S. Crisler the 2007 BYU Press publication How I Came to Write: LDS Authors for Young Adults.