《美国文学选读新编·20世纪卷》是一部在新的社会文化历史语境下编写的英语专业高年级本科生或研究生的教材，也是一部文学研究者的参考书。

本书以作品选读为主，兼顾文学史的梳理，强调基于作品研读的问题探究，注重学生的课外学习与课堂研讨相结合，适度引导学生进行深度的阅读和研究。本书在作家作品的选择上兼顾学界关于文学经典的传统的和当下的观点，在内容的分布上则强调现当代部分，兼及21世纪美国文学。

Chapter 1 Realistic Literature Before 1945

 1.Introduction

 2.Sherwood Anderson

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.John Steinbeck

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 2 "Lost Generation" Literature

 1.Introduction

 2.F.Scott Fitzgerald

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Ernest Hemingway

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 3 Southern Literature

 1.Introduction

 2.William Faulkner

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Robert Penn Warren

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 4 Postmodernist Fiction and "Avant-Pop" Art

 1.Introduction

 2.Joseph Heller

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Kurt Vonnegut

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

 4.John S.Bartti

4.1 Presentation Topics

4.2 Selected Reading

4.3 Assigned Reading

 5.Don DeLillo

5.1 Presentation Topics

5.2 Selected Reading

5.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 5 Realistic Literature After 1945

 1.Introduction

 2.John Updike

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Raymond Carver

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

 4.Joyce Carol Oates

4.1 Presentation Topics

4.2 Selected Reading

4.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 6 Ethnic Literature

 1.Introduction

 2.Leslie Marmon Silko

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Maxine Hong Kingston

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

 4.Frank Chin

4.1 presentation Topics

4.2 Selected Reading

4.3 Assigned Reading

 5.Saul Bellow

5.1 Presentation Topics

5.2 Selected Reading

5.3 Assigned Reading

 6.Philip Roth

6.1 Presentation Topics

6.2 Selected Reading

6.3 Assigned Reading

 7.Langston Hughes

7.1 Presentation Topics

7.2 Selected Reading

7.3 Assigned Reading

 8.Gwendolyn Brooks

8.1 Presentation Topics

8.2 Selected Reading

8.3 Assigned Reading

 9.Amiri Baraka

9.1 Presentation Topics

9.2 Selected Reading

9.3 Assigned Reading

 10.Rita Dove

10.1 Presentation Topics

10.2 Selected Reading

10.3 Assigned Reading

 11.Toni Morrison

11.1 Presentation Topics

11.2 Selected Reading

11.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 7 Poetry Before 1945

 1.Introduction

 2.Ezra Pound

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Robert Frost

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

 4.William Carlos Williams

4.1 Presentation Topics

4.2 Selected Reading

4.3 Assigned, Reading

 5.Louis Zukofsky

5.1 Presentation Topics

5.2 Selected Reading

5.3 Assigned Reading

 6.Elizabeth Bishop

6.1 Presentation Topics

6.2 Selected Reading

6.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 8 Poetry After 1945

 1.Introduction

 2.Allen Ginsberg

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Charles Olson

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading

 4.Sylvia Plath

4.1 Presentation Topics

4.2 Selected Reading

4.3 Assigned Reading

 5.Charles Bernstein

5.1 Presentation Topics

5.2 Selected Reading

5.3 Assigned Reading

 6.Anne Waldman

6.1 Presentation Topics

6.2 Selected Reading

6.3 Assigned Reading

Chapter 9 Drama

 1.Introduction

 2.Eugene O'Neill

2.1 Presentation Topics

2.2 Selected Reading

2.3 Assigned Reading

 3.Edward Albee

3.1 Presentation Topics

3.2 Selected Reading

3.3 Assigned Reading