Some very good ideas here, and I also like the dissenting opinion from Dylan on keeping the the design elements standard. In any case, here’s one more idea, or variation on a theme, for you.

Some of the previous commentors suggested a vertical bar cropping up for each event/bailout point on the “x” axis of your graph, with the size of each bar representing the size (in dollars) of a given bailout.

This was my thought as well, only you might want to substitute the usual bar with something more visually striking, space permitting.

For example, instead of representing the size of each event or bailout with a vertically rising bar, why not use a very scaled-down sillhouette of a skyscraper? You could start out with the 1907 Panic, and highlight that initial event with the image of an early skyscraper, such as the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Insurance_Building

As the timeline progresses, and the bailouts/events get larger, you could plot each one with the silhouette of a taller building, say, the Chrysler Building or the Sears Tower. The most recent, ever-changing, and largest bailout events (in nominal or real terms) could be represented by recently planned or stalled/unfinished buildings, such as the Chicago Spire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Spire

By the end of the book, all the skyscraper silhouettes would add up to form a nice little skyline along your timeline graph. You could also stick to one city in particular (say, New York City) to get the flow of an actual city skyline.

I guess this idea, or any others mentioned here, would also fit well in a nice full size appendix at the back of the book.

“Why does congress keep saying one thing and doing nothing?”
“Tradition mostly”

With the remaining 1.5″ to the right, you can list the actual events that are occurring. This avoids the problem of having to squeeze in a bunch of items on the timeline above or below. It should be easier to read and give you the visual effect you are going for.

– Use wingnuts graph and ad the years total bailout $ in the box.

– Each event has a different cause/purpose, you could put a semi-transperant picture somewhere on the page of the cause/purpose… bank, mortgage, etc…

What first came to mind was some variation of the iconic ‘evolution of man’ illustration. A very simplified line art (cartoon?) drawing representational of a male business type figure… Various stages corresponding to chapters from the ol’timey short fat industrialist (w/top hat) –to–> your modern day metrosexual-business-duchebaggery –to–> hunched over penniless tramp/hobo.

Previous stages could be grayed out… your timescale and labels could still be included or perhaps insted a play on words such as “The Goldless Age” …or “homo-irrationusexuberus” …or something.

Just ruminating…

Best of luck with the book!! …look forward to picking up a copy.

A couple of different ideas here…

1) If there is any chance you are breaking your book up into periods (i.e. pre-1873, 1873-1941, 1941-1970s, 1970s-today), it would make it much easier to show those events like you wanted them so you could flip back and forth. I think it would make it easier to show the events in a way that is readable.

2) Another idea would be do a scatter chart of events. Time-line on the X axis…Inflation adjusted $’s of bailout along the Y axis. All events could be show on the scatter using smalls dots. The current event you are highlighting would be a Star. Below the scatter graph, you would show the star followed by the current item.

This way the reader gets the context for where the current event fits into the time-line, the size of bailout compared to other bailouts, and the number of bailouts that occurred close to the current one. Here is an example:

http://www.askslc.com/scatter.gif

It would also be easy to change thickness to represent the cost of the event. I would be worried about it getting too confusing… something like that might require an explanation unless it is totally obvious that line thickness = inflation adjusted cost, which might be tough.