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. Irate 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 O'Neill
2. Three Dominant Playwrights
3. Contemporary Playwrights
Appendix Glossary of Literary Terms
References