本书遵循“以人为本”的理念，从中国学生实际出发，从不同方面向中国学生介绍美国的历史与文化现象。全书共分15个单元，既涵盖了美国历史上的重大事件，如：殖民与独立、西进运动、内战、世界大战、经济大萧条等，又涉及美国文化的方方面面，宏观方面涵盖了领土与环境、法律、节庆日、黑人奴隶、宗教与信仰等，微观方面则包含了文学、艺术、建筑、运动、音乐、电影、科技、城市等大量内容，可谓是美国历史文化的一部缩影。全书采用真实地道的语言材料，主要取材于国外报刊杂志以及相关历史文献资料，穿插图表、照片等真实的视觉材料，表现手段活泼，效果生动直观。无论对广大学生还是对美国历史文化感兴趣的其他学习者来说，本书都是—本了解美国、积累历史文化知识、开阔视野、启发思路的良好读物。通过本书的学习可以进一步增进中国学生对美国历史文化的了解，并透过历史的表象了解美国文化核心，拓宽文化视野，从而进一步提高跨文化交际的能力。

Unit 1 Colonization and Independence

 Text A British Colonization (1607-1776)

 Text B The Road to Independence (1763-1783)

 Supplementary Reading The Issue of Representation

Unit 2 Territory and Environment

 Text A Introduction to Territory andEnvironment of theUnited States

 Text B Extremes and Natural Disasters in U.S.A

 Supplementary Reading The Mississippi River

Unit 3 Westward Expansion

 Text A Territorial Expansion

 Text B Life on the Frontier

 Supplementary Reading The Underground Railroad

Unit 4 Civil War and Abraham Lincoln

 TextA American Civil War

 Text B Abraham Lincoln and His Speech

 Supplementary Reading O Captain! My Captain!

Unit 5 Two World Wars

 Text A America During and After World War I

 Text B America During and After World War II

 Supplementary Reading Speech on Hitler's Invasion of the U.S.S.R.

Unit 6 The Great Depression and the New Deal

 Text A Introduction to the Great Depression

 Text B Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First'Inaugural Address

 Supplementary Reading Franklin DelanoRoosevelt's First Fireside Chat—"The Banking Crisis"

Unit 7 Laws and Rules

 Text A The Law of theUnited States

 Text B Declaration of Independence

 Supplementary Reading Constitution of theUnited States of America

Unit 8 Sports and Figures

 Text A The National Basketball Association

 Text B Michael Jeffrey Jordan

 Supplementary Reading Sports in theUnited States

Unit 9 Art, Literature, and Architecture

 Text A Visual Arts and Architecture of U.S.A.

 Text B Mark Twain

 Supplementary Reading Pearl S. Buck

Unit 10 Music, Dance and Film

 Text A Michael Joseph Jackson: A Super Star

 Text B The Oscars

 Supplementary Reading "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Unit II Science and Technology

 Text A Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Text B Endeavour

 Supplementary Reading Unmanned Military Space Planes Usher in New Weaponry Era

Unit 12 Holidays and Celebrations

 Text A Thanksgiving Day

 Text B Independence Day

 Supplementary Reading Christmas Day

Unit 13 Famous Cities and Sightseeing

 Text A Washington, D.C.

 Text B NewYork City

 Supplementary Reading Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Unit 14 American Black

 Text A African Americans

 Text B Martin Luther King, Jr

 Supplementary Reading Barack obama

Unit 15 Religions and Faith

 Text A Puritans in the North America

 Text B Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

 Supplementary Reading The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter

References