Given that the Seven Soldiers stories include the origins of various of the characters in them, wouldn't they more or less have to fall prior to the Crisis?

Also, the characterisation of Zatanna - who appears a lot more together during the Crisis and shortly before it (in JLA, for example) suggests that the Crisis occurs after her reacquisition of faith in herself during Seven Soldiers.

(For that matter, didn't Morrison state that that was the case somewhere?)

Loki --

I know what you mean, and the fact that Morrison did state elsewhere that he thought the series took place the week before Infinite Crisis does carry a lot of weight. But I think Morrison said that early on, and the deciding factor for me was that the end of Seven Soldiers (that is, Seven Soldiers #1) takes place during the Metropolis battle in Infinite Crisis #7.

Since I've organized the Infinite Crisis crossover trades on the timeline such that they appear in the order in which they latest cross over with Infinite Crisis (Batgirl: Destruction's Daughter, for instance, crosses over with Infinite Crisis #4, and Wonder Woman: Mission's End crosses over with Infinite Crisis #3 and #5, so Wonder Woman comes after Batgirl), that puts Seven Soldiers at the end of the crossover trades, after even Teen Titans: Life & Death.

You're right about the origins, though, and chances are I could put some of the Seven Soldiers volumes earlier, and then leave the last Seven Soldiers volume where it is, but in terms of readability, I just think all four trades have to be read together. So to the very end they go, just before 52.

That was my thinking, at least. But I appreciate your input and your interest in the timeline. Thanks much.