作为哥伦比亚文学史系列丛书的一本，本书以美国小说的发展史为主体，更专辟章节分别论述了加拿大、加勒比海地区和拉西美洲的小说，别开生面，拾遗补阙。

全书按时间顺序分为四大部分，又根据各个时期所出现的主要流派、题材、市场等分成若干章，突破了一般文学史常用的编写模式，将叙述、考据和论证融为一体。三十多位撰稿人几乎全部是在美国各大学中从事文学教学的专家，他们的殚心之作保证了本书很高的学术质量，使其成为一本值得**的**参考书。

Introduction
Beginings to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Introduction
The Early American Novel
Autobiography and the Early Novel
The Book Marketplace I
The Romance
Romance and Race
Domesticity and Fiction
Fiction and Reform I
The Late Nineteenth Century
Introduction
Realism
Fiction and The Science of Society
Fiction and Reform Ⅱ
Nation,Region,and Empire
Gender and Fiction
Popular Forms I
The Early Twentieth Century
Introduction
Modernist Eruptions
American Proleanism
……
The Late Twentieth Century
Biographies of American Authours
Selected Bibliography of Critical Works
Notes on Contributors
Index