American Novel Explication is designed to help users locate literary criticism quickly and easily. The body of the book is alphabetical by author and then alphabetical by novel title. Criticism in both French and English is indexed, and includes articles from journals, chapters from books, and whole books devoted to a particular American novel. Full journal titles appear in a "List of Journals Indexed", and full book citations appear at the back of the volume.

The first volume published covered the years 1991 through 1995. With the second volume, editor Catherine Glitsch has begun to fill in the gap from the late 60s and covers the years 1969 through 1980. Subsequent volumes will cover 1981-1985, and 1986-1990; the series will then be continuous and will go forward from 1995 in five-year increments.

Wherever American novels are studied, this series will provide access to the complete world of criticism about those books.