祁寿华编著的《当代美国散文精选》为每一篇“散文”提供了作者简况、简评（或赏析）和注释等，以助读者阅读欣赏。收集在这里的“散文”几乎每一篇都有叙事，都有抒情，有写头发、午睡等琐碎小事的，也有写以色列和巴勒斯坦冲突之国际争端的，风格有庄亦有谐，但其共同点是对自己、对人生、对世界的坦诚的、勇敢的感觉和思考并把感觉和思考真真实实地袒露给读者。

Introductlon

“Hai r”Marcia Aldrich

“Random Reflections 0f a Second．Rate Mind”Woody Alien

“Graven Images”Saul BelloW

“States Of Reading”SvenBirkerts

“Life with Daughters：Watching the Miss America Pageant”Gerald Early

“The Arl Of ihe Nap”Joseph Epstein

“Skunk Dreams”Louise Erdrich

“The Test Of Time”Wilam H．Gass

“What’S Wrong with Animal Rights’’Vicki Heame

“Waiting”Edna O’Brien

“Beauty”ScotT Russel

“The Page Turner”Lynne Sharon Schwartz

“One Violent Crime”Bruce Shapiro

“Gray Area：Thinking with a Damaged Brain”Floyd Skloot

“Striptease”Lauren Slater

“Listening‘or Silence”Mark Slouka

“After Amnesia”J0ve Caro

“The Break”Cynthia Ozick

“Six Days：Some Rememberings”Grace Paley

“Mother Tongue”Amytn

“The Gangster We Are All Looking For”Le Thi Diem Thuy

“A Visit tO Camelot”Diana Trilling

“CiviIian”TobUs Wolff