本教材是在内容依托教学教学理念指导下，基于国家哲学社会科学项目推出的内容语言融合系列教材之一。以美国历史文化发展为线索，展现美国各段历史进程中的国家概况，既训练语言技能，也丰富相关知识。涉及系统的历史内容，帮助读者了解美国各段历史时期的重大事件，系统介绍美国历史文化发展背景。本次改版对难度有所调整，并提供教师资源包，以适应不同层次学生的需要。根据阅读材料的时效性进行增删。增加“互联网”因素，通过二维码呈现网络资源，增强文化类教材的特色。本书适用于英语专业一、二年级学生，也适用于具有中学英语基础的非英语专业学生和英语爱好者学习。

Unit 1 The Age of Exploration
Text A Early Exploration and Settlements
Text B Columbus’s Discovery of America
Text C The Legacy of the Puritans
Text D The Thanksgiving Story
Unit 2 The Colonial America
Text A The Original 13 Colonies
Text B Colonial Life of the Early Settlers
Text C Slavery in Colonial America
Unit 3 The Road to Independence
Text A The War of Independence
Text B The American Revolution
Text C Causes of the American Revolution
Unit 4 The Young Republic
Text A The Creation of a National Government
Text B Benjamin Franklin
Text C The Essence of the Constitution
Unit 5 The Westward Movement
Text A The Frontier of the American West
Text B The Donner Party
Text C Louisiana Purchase
Unit 6 The Civil War
Text A Causes of the Civil War
Text B The Gettysburg Address
Text C Eye Witness Accounts of the Assassination
Unit 7 Reconstruction
Text A Reconstruction after the Civil War Ⅰ
Text B Education after the Civil War Ⅰ
Text C A Shattered Fairy Tale
Unit 8 The Gilded Age
Text A The Gilded Age
Text B Industrialization
Text C The Gilded Age Society
Unit 9 America in World War Ⅰ
Text A The U.S.A.and World War Ⅰ
Text B Wilson’s Declaration of Neutrality
Text C U.S.Entry into World War Ⅰ
Unit 10 The Roaring Twenties
Text A The Roaring Twenties
Text B Mass Entertainment in the 1920s
Text C The Lost Generation
Unit 11 The Great Depression
Text A The Great Depression in America
Text B Iowa in the 1920s and the 1930s
Text C Franklin D.Roosevelt
Unit 12 America in World War Ⅱ
Text A World War Ⅱ
Text B The Origins of World War Ⅱ
Text C American Domestic Situation During World War Ⅱ
Unit 13 Postwar American Society
Text A American Society in the 1950s
Text B The Postwar Economy: 1945—1960
Text C Desegregation
Unit 14 America in Transition
Text A America in the 1960s
Text B America in the 1970s
Text C The Cuban Missile Crisis
Unit 15 Toward a New Century
Text A America Entering a New Century
Text B The Gulf War
Text C No Ordinary Day
Appendixes
Appendix 1 States, Their Entry into Union & Their Settlement
Appendix 2 Presidents & Vice Presidents of the U.S.
Appendix 3 U.S.History Timeline
重点参考书目和网站