《英美概况》和单科教材的不同点是其跨度大，涉及面广，有横断面，也有纵深轴线。
　　该书于1988年修订过一次，1995年根据需要再次修订。第三版修订仍沿用第一、二版的基本框架，仍采用先英后美的顺序，以时空概念为坐标，内容以树状结构组合，横向展开英美社会的方方面面，纵向追溯其运动轨迹。纵横结合，互相补充。恰如影像中使用的变焦距和摇镜头技巧，既可以沿纵向轴线远近移动，又可以根据需要横向展开，这样一纵一横，需要讲述的内容也就各入其位了。
　　这次修订仍采用先英后美的顺序。美国的前身是英国人建立的殖民地，时间长达150年之久，美国人价值观、政体、法律和主流文化都受英国很大影响，因此，讲述英国就是直接或间接地为讲述美国社会做准备。

　　这是一本用英文介绍英美两国各方面情况的书，原为河南大学外语系概况课教材。在1984年10月召开的审稿会上，来自复旦大学、南京大学、武汉大学、华中师范学院、西南师范学院、洛阳解放军外语学院等20所大专院校的代表对原稿进行了审议。会后经作者不断认真修改，现予以再版，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.