本书精选19、20世纪美国25位作家的名篇,作品种类包括长、短篇小说、诗歌、散文、文论等。所选篇章都是有定评的名文。全书按作家分章,每章包括作家简介和选篇分析、作品选篇以及中文注释三大部分。上、下两册各有绪论介绍时代背景、各种文学流派等。
本书可作大学英语专业高年级学生的美国文学教材,也可供学过英语并喜爱研究美国文学的同志研读。

1.20世纪的美国社会与美国文学
2.西奥多·德莱塞
From Sister Carrie(Chapters 1,27,47)
3.薇拉·凯瑟
Neighbour Rosicky
4.罗伯特·弗罗斯特
The Tuft of Flowers
Mending Wall
The Death of the Hired Man
Home Burial
A Servant to Servants
The Road Not Taken
Birches
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Fire and Ice
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Acceptance
Departmental
Design
A Considerable Speck
5.舍伍德·安德森
From Winesburg,Ohio(The Book of the Grotesque,Hands,Paper Pills,Mother,Adventure,Departure)
6.华莱士·史蒂文斯
Sunday Morning
Anecdote of the Jar
The Snow Man
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
The Idea of Order at Key West
Of Modern Poetry
7.威廉·卡罗斯·威廉斯
Danse Russe
Smell!
Tract
El Hombre
Queen Ann's Lace
The Widow's Lament in Springtime
To Waken an Old Lady
Spring and All
The Red Wheelbarrow
The Yachts
St. Francis Einstein of the Daffodils
The Young Housewife
Between Walls
The Poor
The Last Words of My English Grandmother
The Yellow Chimney
A Sort of a Song
Burning the Christmas Greens
The Dance
The Descent
To Daphne and Virginia
The Snow Begins
8.埃兹拉·庞德
Salutation
A Pact
The Rest
In a Station of the Metro
L' Art,1910
The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter
From Hugh Selwyn Mauberley: Life and Contacts
From The Cantos
9.T.S.艾略特
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
From The Waste Land (II. A Game of Chess)
10.弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德
From The Great Gatsby (Chapters 1,2,3)
11.威廉·福克纳
A Rose for Emily
That Evening Sun
Dry September
12.厄内斯特·海明威
Soldier's Home
From The Old Man and the Sea
13.约翰·斯坦贝克
From The Grapes of Wrath (Chapters 12,16,25,28)
14.拉尔夫·埃利森
From Invisible Man (Chapter 1)
15.索尔·贝娄
From Seize the Day (Part 1)