Earlier this year, I announced that after more than 26 years as an independent publisher, that I had decided to retire from publishing. Over the course of the past six months, I have been reflecting on four important publishing projects, which remain unpublished. These are works which I began working on as early as 2018.

After careful reconsideration, I have decided to temporarily come out of retirement, in order to bring these four previously planned titles into publication.

Why? Since 2018, I had invested many hours of researching and writing for each respective title to simply abandon them. Each of the four titles falls in line with my personal mission to clear the name of Russia’s much slandered tsar Nicholas II, therefore, it is important for me to see each of these projects come to fruition.

It is my sincere hope, that these new titles will provide a more truthful understanding of the life and reign of Nicholas II, and a welcome alternative to all the negative literature published about his life and reign, particularly since the 1990s.

I have provided a brief summary of each title, including an image of their respective covers.

Please NOTE that at the time of writing this announcement, that I have no timeline for the completion of any of these publications, so for those of you who are interested in any of these titles, I do ask for your patience. It may take a year, it may take two years to complete all four projects. I can assure you, however, that I will publicize each new book as it becomes available, on my blog and Facebook page, as well as via my bi-weekly news updates.

NICHOLAS II. MONUMENTS & MEMORIALS
by Paul Gilbert
ISBN: 978-1-927604-41-0

This richly illustrated title is the first book of its kind to be published on the subject. Nicholas II. Monuments & Memorials explores the nearly 100 monuments, busts and memorials established in Russia, since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Among them is the first bust-monument to the Tsar installed and consecrated on 17th July 1993 – the day marking the 75th anniversary of the murder of Nicholas II – on the grounds of the Feodorovsky Sovereign Cathedral, in Tsarskoye Selo to the most recent, a magnificent equestrian monument installed on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Martyr Michael (Gusev), lin the city of Kulebaki, Nizhny Novgorod region.

In addition, the book explores a series of Triumphal Arches constructed in a number of cities across Siberia, to mark the visit of Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (future Emperor Nicholas II), following his Eastern Journey (1890-91); and the memorials to Nicholas II established in Europe following the exodus of White émigrés who fled Bolshevik Russia after October 1917.

This book is a companion volume to Nicholas II. Portraits, published in 2019.

TRAITOR TO THE TSAR!
GRAND DUKE KIRILL VLADIMIROVICH and NICHOLAS II
by Paul Gilbert
ISBN: 978-1-927604-54-0

In June 1917, Grand Duke Kirill was the first Romanov to flee Russia. Not only was his departure “illegal”, as Kirill was still in active duty as a rear admiral in active military service in a country at war, he had abandoned his honour and dignity in the process.

Grand Duke Kirill, was clearly a man who lacked a moral compass. In this book I discuss his entering into an incestuous marriage with his paternal first cousin and a divorcee, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1905, defying both Nicholas II by not obtaining his consent prior, and the Russian Orthodox Church.

But it was Kirill’s traitorous act during the February Revolution of 1917, in which he is most famous. It was in Petrograd, that Kirill marched to the Tauride Palace at the head of the Garde Equipage (Marine Guard) to swear allegiance to the Russian Provisional Government, wearing a red band on his uniform. He then authorized the flying of a red flag over his palace on Glinka Street in Petrograd.

In 1922, Kirill declared himself “the guardian of the throne”, and in1924, pompously proclaimed himself “Emperor-in-Exile”. Further, I explore Kirill and Victoria’s alleged Nazi affiliations during their years in exile, as well as Kirill’s shameful infidelity.

This work is the first of its kind to thoroughly examine the treachery of Grand Duke Kirill towards Nicholas II. It is based primarily on documents from Russian archival and media sources, many of which will be new to the English reader.

NICHOLAS II IN POST SOVIET RUSSIA
by Paul Gilbert
ISBN: 978-1-927604-53-3

The image of Nicholas II, whom historians have criticized as an ineffective leader – and who was demonised by Soviet ideology – has been undergoing a renaissance in post-Soviet Russia.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, a series of significant events have taken place which have helped Russia re-evaluate the life and reign of the country’s last emperor Nicholas II.

These include the discovery of his remains in Ekaterinburg in 1991, his interment in St Petersburg 1998, his canonization by the Moscow Patriarchate in 2000, his rehabilitation in 2008, the status of his remains by the ROC, and of the centenary marking his death and martyrdom in 2018.

Among the other topics explored in this book, are the results of polls taken in Russia, whereby the populace have reevaluated their assessment of Nicholas II’s reign in a more popular light. In addition, this book explores the long-held theory that Lenin ordered the murder of the Tsar, as well as Russian president Vladimir Putin’s assessment of Russia’s much slandered Tsar, and the fact that the Russian State Archives still hold documents on the Ekaterinburg regicide, which to this day remain sealed and off limits to researchers.

NICHOLAS II. A CENTURY OF MYTHS AND LIES
by Paul Gilbert
ISBN: 978-1-927604-35-9

For more than a century, many myths and lies about the reign of Nicholas II have endured to the present day. For more than 70 years, the Bolsheviks and later the Soviets were perfectly content to allow these negative myths to stand. The Soviet government’s philosophy to avoid or revolutionize many facts pertaining to Imperial history, including the adoption of extreme censorship, affected what was permitted to be published inside the Soviet Union and thus helped the Bolshevik regime to discredit the last Russian Emperor.

Soviet historians portrayed the Tsar as indecisive, weak-willed, incompetent, and out of touch with the modern world. Their assessment is based on slanderous fabrications, particularly during the early 20th century, which are still deeply rooted in the minds of both Westerners and the Russian people even to this day.  

Sadly, it is these same myths and lies which many modern day historians and biographers cling to in their biographies and studies of Nicholas II. It seems that rather then challenge the old myths by researching new documents in Russian archives, they prefer instead to keep up with popular thought rather than attempt to dispel a legend. This is not the sign of a good historian.

Nicholas II. A Century of Myths and Lies explores 25 of the most popular myths, for example: “that Nicholas II was weak and indecisive” or “that Nicholas II was indifferent to the Khodynka Tragedy” or “that Nicholas II was influenced by Rasputin” or “that Nicholas II was to blame for Bloody Sunday” or “that Nicholas II was wrong in assuming command of the Russian Armed Forces during WWI” or “that Nicholas II’s death was met with indifference by the Russian people” . . . plus, 19 other myths.

© Paul Gilbert. 14 June 2021