Mobile's long history includes joyous Mardi Gras celebrations and tragic natural disasters. Civil War and segregation, shipping and manufacturing, dirt streets and booming wharves are part of its fascinating story. Cargo shipped to and from its busy docks gradually shifted from cotton to timber to bananas to manufactured goods. In World War II, its population grew exponentially as the city became an important shipbuilder for America's arsenal.

Historic Photos of Mobile transports readers to a time of hoop skirts and horse-drawn carriages, then shows them how the city changed during the first half of the twentieth century. Timeless, rarely seen, black-and-white images capture historic colleges, family-owned shops, the longest American flag ever displayed, hurricane damage, social change, tall ships, and scenes of daily life in generations long gone.