One of the great challenges of quantitative analysis is to how best visualize the results. There are, of course, the standard plots and figures, such as scatter grams, pie charts, and bar charts, but in some cases the findings demand going beyond these means of communicating to the statistically literate. This is true for the total of 174,000,000 murdered by government in the 20th Century. This total is so incredible, so large and beyond the most pessimistic expectations of historians, that it must be highlighted and underlined in the most graphic manner possible.

More important is that the total is unimaginable, indigestible, unappreciable. It is just too big. People normally see it only as a statistic, losing its full meaning and implications. We have here one of those rare instances in research where a number itself, and not its correlations, associations, contingencies, and such, is the most meaningful result. And this creates the problem: how can one present this single, horribly huge number, such that people get a good appreciation of its size and meaning beyond the statistic?

This I have investigated here through ten so-called tears graphics, the thumbnails of which are shown below. Click them to go to the graphic.

Except for the first three graphics, which I have used to introduce photos of democide, the rest are, to use the term for computer programs in development, beta graphics. I would like to hear from you as to which you like or dislike most and what improvements you would suggest. Especially, is there a graphic approach or model other than those shown here that you would suggest? My email is rummel@hawaii.edu

Investigations into Visualizing Democide

Rings of Tears 1: The Bodies	Rings of Tears 2: The Murdering	Rings of Tears 3: Faces of Death	Even More Tears
Niagara of Tears	Tears All Around	Tons of Tears	Years of Tears
Land of Tears	Volumes of Tears