《英美概況》和單科教材的不同點是其跨度大，涉及面廣，有橫斷面，也有縱深軸線。
該書于1988年修訂過一次，1995年根據需要再次修訂。第三版修訂仍沿用第一、二版的基本框架，仍采用先英后美的順序，以時空概念為坐標，內容以樹狀結構組合，橫向展開英美社會的方方面面，縱向追溯其運動軌跡。縱橫結合，互相補充。恰如影像中使用的變焦距和搖鏡頭技巧，既可以沿縱向軸線遠近移動，又可以根據需要橫向展開，這樣一縱一橫，需要講述的內容也就各入其位了。
這次修訂仍采用先英后美的順序。美國的前身是英國人建立的殖民地，時間長達150年之久，美國人價值觀、政體、法律和主流文化都受英國很大影響，因此，講述英國就是直接或間接地為講述美國社會做準備。
這是一本用英文介紹英美兩國各方面情況的書，原為河南大學外語系概況課教材。在1984年10月召開的審稿會上，來自復旦大學、南京大學、武漢大學、華中師范學院、西南師范學院、洛陽解放軍外語學院等20所大專院校的代表對原稿進行了審議。會后經作者不斷認真修改，現予以再版，以供需要。
Volume One Great Britain
Chapter One Panoramic View
Section One The Country and the People
Section Two The British Government
Section Three Politics and Law
Section Four National Economy and Cities
Section Five Cultural and Social Life
Chapter Two English History
Section One Origin of the English Nation
Section Two Great Charter and Beginning of Parliament
Section Three Decline of Feudalism in England
Section Four The Tudor Monarchy and the Rising Bourgeoisie
Section Five Reformation in England
Section Six The English Bourgeois Revolution
Section Seven The industrial Revolution and the Chartist
Section Eight The Rise and Fall of the British Empire
Volume Two America
Chapter One Panoramic View
Section One The United States and its Natural Conditions
Section Two American People
Section Three Government and Politics(I)
Section Four Government and Politics(II)
Section Five National Economy(I)
Section Six National Economy(II)
Section Seven Family and Social Life
Chapter Two American History
Section One The Thirteen English-American Colonies
Section Two The War of independence
Section Three Appearance of the American Constitution and the Washington Administration
Section Four America During the First Half of the 19th Century-Era of Expansion
Section Five The Civil War
……
Supplementary Material for Reference
Bibliography
British Disease and Thatcher's Medicine
After the Second World War，Britain was confronted with tense competition in overseas markets. It had to re-organize its production industries to meet the challenge. A number of indus-tries such as aerospace， chemicals， oil9 gas and electronics have gained strength while traditional industries such as textiles，steel， and ship-building contracted. In spite of the efforts to readjust and some short periods of rapid development. Britain's rate of economic growth has been low in comparison with that of most other industrialized countries. It averaged 2-3 per cent an-nually up t0 1971 but the rate dropped much considerably in sub-sequent years. Britain's slow growth of productivity， soaring in flation， and large unemployment gave birth to the mocking term "British Disease". Some American economists even warned that Britain would be the first developed country to become under-developed.
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