本書精選19、20世紀美國25位作家的名著，作品種類包括長、短篇小說、詩歌、散文、文論等。所選篇章都是有定評的名文。全書按作家分章，每章包括作家簡介和選篇分析、作品選篇以及中文註釋三大部分。上、下兩冊各有緒論介紹時代背景、各種文學流派等。
本書可作大學英語專業高年級學生的美國文學教材，也可供學過英語並喜愛研究美國文學的同誌研讀。
目錄
1.20世紀的美國社會與美國文學
2.西奧多·德萊塞
From Sister Carrie(Chapters 1，27，47)
3.薇拉·凱瑟
Neighbour Rosicky
4.羅伯特·弗羅斯特
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.華萊士·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·卡羅斯·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.埃茲拉·龐德
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·菲茨傑拉德
From The Great Gatsby (Chapters 1，2，3)
11.威廉·福克納
A Rose for Emily
That Evening Sun
Dry September
12.厄內斯特·海明威
Soldier's Home
From The Old Man and the Sea
13.約翰·斯坦貝克
From The Grapes of Wrath (Chapters 12，16，25，28)
14.拉爾夫·埃利森
From Invisible Man (Chapter 1)
15.索爾·貝婁
From Seize the Day (Part 1)