Description

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A sumptuously illustrated and vivid account of the deep ties that bridge the histories and cultures of two colorful and storied port cities

Mobile and Havana: Sisters across the Gulf presents a beautifully written and illustrated survey of the many historic linkages between these exotic port cities. Through an effortless blending of word and image, John S. Sledge, Alicia García-Santana, Chip Cooper, and Julio A. Larramendi, historians and photographers from each side of the basin, share a colorful, complex, and sometimes difficult story never before fully told.

Over twenty years ago, Mobile’s visionary municipal archivist Jay Higginbotham remarked, “Mobile, Alabama, and Havana, Cuba, have only three things in common. The past, the present, and the future.” This book demonstrates just how much that is the case.
 

About the Author

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John S. Sledge is senior architectural historian for the Mobile Historic Development Commission and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. His previous books include The Mobile River and The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History.

Alicia E. García-Santana is a Cuban architectural historian with an interest in historic preservation. She has taught widely in the Caribbean and Latin America and is the author of numerous books, including Las primeras villas de Cuba and Los modelos españoles de la casa Cubana.

Chip Cooper is artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama Honors College. His photography books include Old Havana: Spirit of the Living City/La Habana Vieja: El espíritu de la ciudad viva and Campesinos: Inside the Soul of Cuba.

Julio A. Larramendi is a research associate for the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Cuba, a professor and visiting artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama Honors College, and the editorial director of Ediciones Polymita.
 

Praise For…

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“A colorful tale of two cities and their intertwined relationship over time—lovingly crafted in words and evocative photographs. But this book is also more than that. It’s an inspired collaboration, reminding us of transcendent ties of geography, culture, and
architecture beyond present-day political differences.”
—Robert Gamble, retired Senior Architectural Historian, Alabama Historical Commission