Interpreting two port cities through the lenses of maritime, urban, and architectural history. 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.   “. . .  an ambitious romp across the two port cities that combs through the many threads of their intertwined histories.” ― Mobile Bay magazine “Mobile and Havana: Cities across the Gulf  offers much to savor, beautifully illustrated. It is a treasury of history that provides a deeper understanding of the centuries-long relationship between two fascinating port cities.” ―Alabama Writers' Forum “[ Mobile and Havana 's] richly illustrated pages encourage readers to see familiar places anew, foregrounding the histories of Mobile and Havana within a transnational network of exchanging people, goods, ideas, and aesthetics.”― The Alabama Review   “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 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.