Soltis Andrew. Winning with the English Opening

Grand Prairie (USA): Chess Digest, 1997. - 179 p. - ISBN: 0-87568-170-0.
American Grandmaster Andy Soltis is one of the most prolific chess writers in the world today. He has carved a particular niche out in the area of repertoire books, the proverbial "Winning with the..." fare. His latest offering is the third edition of a work firstreleased over fifteen years ago, "Winning with the English."
Essentially, Soltis advocates a 1 c4, 2 g3 sequence against virtually any set-up by Black. The rare exception is the response 2...d5 after either 1...e6 or 1...c6, when 3 b3 is recommended, although even here, the King's Bishop does end up fianchettoed, but just a few moves later.
The book maintains the same basic coverage as the second edition. It is divided into four sections: I - c4 e5; II - c4 c5; III - c4 Nf6; and IV - c4, others. There are two basic systems presented in the book: The set-up credited to Botvinnik, with the KB fianchettoed, the QN on c3, pawns on c4, d3 and e4, and the KN on e2; and a variation of this, with the pawn on e3, with the d-pawn retaining the option of going to either d3 or d4, depending on circumstances.
In less than 200 pages, the strategically complex English is broken down into its basic elements, examined, explained, put back together and served up to the student so that it is understandable and useable, particularly for the 1800-2200 rated player. Yes, a better job could (should?) have been done in updating the games and in the explaining another system or two, but the overall impression is still quite favorable.