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。本书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；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；拥有真实、地道的语言材料，穿插图表、照片等真实的视觉材料；每一单元均包括课前热身等；培养学生综合运用语言和知识进行沟通的能力、逻辑思维能力和探索求知的能力；在每个章节的最后部分向学生推荐经典的书目、影视作品、名诗欣赏以及英文歌曲等学习资料。

Unit 1 The Age of Exploration/1

 Text A Early Exploration and Settlements/2

 Text B Columbus's Discovery of America/3

 Text C Spanish Discovery of the New World/7

 Text D The Legacy of the Puritans/9

 Text E The Thanksgiging Story/10

Unit 2 The Colonial America/14

 Text A The Original 13 Colonies/15

 Text B Colonial Life of the Early Settlers/21

 Text C Slavery in Colonial America/23

Unit 3 The Road to Independence/27

 Text A The War of Independence/28

 Text B The American Revolution/33

 Text C Causes of the American Revolution/34

Unit 4 The Young Republic/39

 Text A The Creation of a National Government/40

 Text B Benjamin Franklin/45

 Text C The Essence of the Constitution/47

Unit 5 The Westward Movement/52

 Text A The Frontier of the American West/53

 Text B The Donner Party/59

 Text C Louisiana Purchase/60

Unit 6 The Civil War/64

 Text A Causes of the Civil War/65

 Text B The Gettysburg Address/70

 Text C Eye Witness Accounts of the Assassination/71

 Text D Cost of the War/72

Unit 7 Reconstruction (1865 1877)/77

 Text A Reconstruction after the Civil War/78

 Text B Education after the Civil War/83

 TextC TheKuKluxKlan/83

 Text D A Shattered Fairy Tale/84

Unit 8 The Gilded Age (1877——1917)/88

 Text A The Gilded Age/89

 Text B Industrialization/94

 Text C The Gilded Age Society/95

Unit 9 America in World War Ⅰ (1914——1918)/100

 Text A TheU. S.A. and World War Ⅰ/101

 Text B Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality/108

 Text C U.S. Entry into World War Ⅰ/109

Unit 10 The Roaring Twenties/113

 Text A The Roaring Twenties/114

 Text B Formation of Modern American Mass Culture/118

 Text C The Lost Generation/120

Unit 11 The Great Depression/125

 Text A The Great Depression in America/126

 Text B The Great Depression/131

 Text C Iowa in the 1920s and the 1930s/132

 Text D Franklin D. Roosevelt/134

Unit 12 America in World War Ⅱ/136

 Text A World War Ⅱ/137

 Text B The Origins of World War Ⅱ/142

 Text C War in Europe/145

 Text D War in the Pacific/145

 Text E American Domestic Situation During World War Ⅱ/146

Unit 13 Postwar American Society/151

 Text A American Society in the 1950s/152

 Text B The Postwar Economy：1945——1960/157

 Text C Desegregation/159

Unit 14 America in Transition/164

 Text A America in the 1960s/166

 Text B America in the 1970s/167

 Text C The Cuban Missile Crisis/171

 Text D The Space Race/173

Unit 15 Toward a New Century/177

 Text A America Entering a New Century/178

 Text B U.S.-Soviet Relations/182

 Text C The Gulf War/183

 Text D No Ordinary Day/184

Appendixes

 Appendix 1 States, Their Entry into Union & Their Settlement/190

 Appendix 2 Presidents & Vice Presidents of the U.S./192

 Appendix 3 U.S. History Timeline/195

 Appendix 4 Keys to the Exercises/208

重点参考书目和网站/216