本书分五部分：殖民地时期、美国革命时期、浪漫主义时期、现实主义时期及现代主义时期。19世纪以前的美国文学只是一些信息的报道和宗教的或政治的宣传，算不上真正意义上的文学，19世纪和20世纪才是美国文学作为独立的民族文学形成和发展的鼎盛阶段。所以，本书简略介绍了前两个时期的文学，用较大篇幅论述了后三个时期的文学。每个时期分为历史背景、文学和流派特点、作者简介及重要作品的文体风格和主题思想、重点选文等若干章节，选文后附有注释和思考题。

Part One Colonial America
Chapter Ⅰ American Puritanism
1.The New World
2.Puritan Fathers
3.The Puritan Principles
4.Characteristics of American Puritans
5.The Puritan Heritage
Chapter Ⅱ The Colonial Literature
1.Characteristics of the Colonial Literature
2.William Bradford
3.Anne Bradstreet
4.Edward Taylor
5.Jonathan Edwards
Part Two America Independence
Chapter Ⅰ American Revolution and Enlightenment
1.American Revolution
2.Enlightenment
Chapter Ⅱ The Literature of Revolution and Enlightenment
1.The Literary Features
2.Thomas Paine
3.Thomas Jefferson
4.Philip Freneau
Chapter Ⅲ Benjamin Franklin
Part Three The Age of Romanticism
Chapter Ⅰ The Rise of American Romanticism
1.Historical Background
2.Characteristics of Romanticism
3.Features of American Romanticism
Chapter Ⅱ Early Romanticism
1.Characteristics of Early Romanticism
2.Early Romantic Novelists
3.Early Romantic Poets
Chapter Ⅲ Late Romanticism
1.Characteristics of Late Romanticism and the Flowering of American Literature
2.Late Romantic Poets-Whitman, Dickinson.Poe
3.Late Romantic Essayists-Emerson and Thoreau
4.Late Romantic Novelists—Hawthorne and Melville
Part Four The Age of Realism
Chapter Ⅰ The Rise of Realism
1.Realism
2.Features of Critical Realism
3.Historical Background of American Realism
4.Features of American Realism
Chapter Ⅱ Three Major Novelists of Realism
Chapter Ⅲ Four Novelists of Naturalism
Chapter Ⅳ Other Writers of Social Criticism
Part Five The Age of Modernism
Chapter Ⅰ The Rise of Modernism
1.Modernism
2.Features of Modernism
3.Historical Introduction of American Modernism
4.Modern American Poetry
5.Modern American Drama
6.Modern American Fiction
Chapter Ⅱ Modern Poets
1.Poets of Native Traditions
2.Imagist and Symbolist Poets
3.Confessional Poets
4.Beat Poets
Chapter Ⅲ Modern Novelists
1.Midwest Novelists
2.Novelists of Lost Generation
3.Novelists of Depression
4.African American Novelists
5.Jewish Novelists
6.Southern Novelists
7.War Novelists
8.Asian American Novelists
9.Women Novelists
10.Other Contemporary Novelists
Chapter Ⅳ Modern Playwrights
1.Eugene ONeill
2.Three Dominant Playwrights
3.Contemporary Playwrights
Appendix Glossary of Literary Terms
References