Painting the Map Red is based on extensive research into public and private papers from printed and manuscript sources in both Canada and Britain. Carman Miller attempts to explain why men volunteered for service in this distant conflict despite the rancorous pre-war debate on the wisdom of Canadian participation. He examines the difficulties of leading citizen soldiers and compares the differing styles of leadership. He also reveals how the soldiers' experiences in the field and the public's perceptions of the war altered Canadian opinion, politics, and military development.

Carman Miller is the Chairman and Associate Professor in the History Department at McGill University. He holds the Ph.D. degree from King’s College, University of London. His previous publications include articles focusing on the career of Sir Frederick Borden, a Minister of Militia at the time of the Fourth Earl of Minto, and Canada’s participation in the South African War during Minto’s term of office as Governor–General.

Carman Miller's profile page

"Anyone who has ever been interested in the Canadians in South Africa will be indebted to Carman Miller for the devoted and detailed research which underlies this book." Desmond Morton, Erindale College, University of Toronto. "I was delighted to hear of this book because there is no serious scholarly monograph on the Boer War and there needs to be one ... Miller has spent an enormous amount of time and energy in painstaking original research on the military records and private papers of those involved." Robert J.D. Page, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary. "Painting the Map Red provides an analysis of the very divisive national debate surrounding our decision to go to war, and it carefully assesses the varied roles that our forces had once they reached the field ... It fills an obvious gap in this nation's story and scholarship." Ronald Haycock, Department of History, Royal Military College.