本书将美国历史分为十个阶段，每个阶段都以当时的代表事件和重要史实为出发点，力求将美国各个历史阶段的风貌和概况展现在读者面前。本书对美国历史的介绍采用中英文结合的方式，通过中文的阶段介绍和背景讲述来帮助读者阅读，从而让你的英语学习更加通畅和顺利。同时，每篇介绍后面都有生词注解，能够让你没有词典同样能够轻松地阅读本书。

李清如，畅销书作者，著有《一口气读完欧洲史》、《一口气读完美国史》。

面展现美国的岁月风云。充实的内容，带给读者超值的阅读体验。《一口气读完美国史(英汉双语版)》(作者李清如)将美国历史分为十个阶段，每个阶段都以当时的代表事件和重要史实为出发点，力求将美国各个历史阶段的风貌和概况展现在读者面前。

　　第一章 Colonial Era 殖民时期 　　前哥伦布时代 　　从哥伦布“发现”新大陆那一刻开始，美洲文明翻开了崭新的一页，欧洲史也为之改写。那么，在哥伦布到来之前的美洲大陆，也即前哥伦布时期是怎样的呢？那里是否居住着土著居民？原住民的文明程度如何？他们过着怎样的生活？现在，就让我们来一探究竟。 　　Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia（白令）land bridge between eastern Siberia（西伯利亚）and present-day Alaska（阿拉斯加）around 40,000–17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide（劳伦太德冰盖）and Cordilleran（科迪勒拉）ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age. 　　Archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia （eastern Alaska）， ranges somewhere between 40,000 and 16,500 years ago. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000–13,000 years before present. 　　The Inuit migrated into the Arctic section of North America in another wave of migration, arriving around 1000 CE. Around the same time as the Inuit migrated into North America, Viking（维京） settlers began arriving in Greenland（格陵兰） in 982 and Vinland（文兰）shortly thereafter, establishing a settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows（安斯梅多）， near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. The Viking settlers quickly abandoned Vinland, and disappeared from Greenland by 1500. 　　The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic（旧石器时代晚期）to European colonization during the Early Modern period. 　　Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica [the Olmec（奥尔梅克人）， the Toltec（托尔特克人）， the Mixtec（米斯特克人）， the Aztec（阿兹特克人）， and the Maya（玛雅人）） and the Andes（安第斯山脉） （Inca（印加人）， Moche（莫克人）]. 　　Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals （late 15th–early 16th centuries）， and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge. 　　According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive accomplishments. For instance, the Aztecs built one of the most impressive cities in the world, Tenochtitlan（特诺奇蒂特兰地区）， the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. 　　总之，在前哥伦布时代，在广袤的美洲大陆上，美洲印第安人创造了三大文明，它们是位于今天的尤卡坦、危地马拉和伯利兹地区的玛雅文明，位于今天墨西哥地区的阿兹特克文明以及囊括从厄瓜多尔中部至智利中部3000英里地区的印加文明。 　　他们培育出包括玉米、倭瓜、土豆、胡椒、烟草、棉花和豆类等作物，今天世界上近一半的食物发源于此；发达的天体知识；以太阳金字塔为代表的建筑技术；发达的水利灌溉系统等等。但是，当自给自足、和平宁静的印第安文明遭遇正在野心勃勃四处扩张的欧洲文明时，将是一场灭顶之灾。这一切，就从哥伦布的地理大发现开始。 　　glaciation　冰川作用 　　pleistocene　更新世、更新岩世 　　megafauna　巨型生物 　　archaeologist　考古学家 　　glacial　冰的、冰川的、冰河时代的 　　abandon　抛弃 　　subdivision　细分 　　hallmark　印记、标志 　　heretical　异端的

　　第一章　Colonial Era 殖民时期 　　前哥伦布时代 　　哥伦布与印第安人原住民 　　英国的国王特许状 　　英国建立的永久居留地 　　“五月花”号的到来 　　殖民地的建立 　　第二章 　The American Revolution　独立战争印花税条例引起的不满 　　波士顿倾茶事件 　　莱克星顿的枪声 　　萨拉托加大捷 　　大陆会议与《独立宣言》 　　第三章 Territorial Expansion　领土扩张 　　向拿破仑廉价购买路易斯安那 　　从西班牙买到的佛罗里达 　　“买”走墨西哥一半的土地 　　国务卿的“一笔糟糕的交易” 　　西部牛仔 　　最早的殖民据点——利比里亚 　　美西战争 　　赢得太平洋诸岛 　　从丹麦手中得到维京群岛 　　第四章 American Civil War　南北战争 　　棉花与奴隶 　　汤姆叔叔的小屋