The criteria by which works are included in Concise Anthology of American Literature are the same as those for the parent text, which are that the works should be of significant literary and cultural significance in the history of American letters. The briefer anthology. Howeyer, must discriminate even more carefully than its longer companion simply because it cannot contain an equal number of important selections-especially those selections that consist of long works presented in their entireties. It must achieve a balance between including works of the highest literary and cultural significance while regretfully omitting many longer works in the name of practicality.

In its fifth edition, Concise Anthology of American Literature strives to maintain that balance, which characterized its predecessors. It still contains a number of longer works uncut: Franklin's Autobiography, Emerson's Nature, Melville's Billy Budd, Thoreau's Walden, James's Daisy Miller, Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, O'Neill's The Hairy Ape, Albee's The Zoo Story, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Among other new works and authors are selections from Columbus's reports of his voyages of discovery to America, additional selections of Native American literature, and works by Rita Dove, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, and David Mamet.

- Christopher Columbus
- Captain John Smith
- Native American Voices
- William Bradford
- John Winthrop
- The New England Primer
- Anne Bradstreet
- Edward Taylor
- Samuel Sewall
- Mary Rowlandson
,etc.