《美国文学》(修订版)是以2000年出版的《美国文学》为基础，根据作者这些年在美国文学教学中的实践经验和同行专家的一些建议，就美国文学的当代部分补充了大量的新内容，以适应学生的需要。

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

i. 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