Charlotte Stanford's study of the Book of Donors of Strasbourg Cathedral contains the names of nearly 8,000 individual donors (almost half of whom were women) and 7,000 entries. Her analysis demonstrates that people gave bequests based on religious feelings, for relief from purgatory, social display, personal remembrance, and family solidarity. Although other books of obituary donations exist, the Strasbourg book is nearly unique in the large number of donors and the wide range of social classes who contributed to the cathedral's building program. Stanford situates the donations, which ranged from clothing to property to money, firmly within the liturgical context of the cathedral and city over two centuries. She shows the degree to which the donations were specifically linked with construction and special projects, especially the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin and the west façade.

The subtitle does a disservice to this extraordinary work of scholarship, whose breadth and depth ranges from a thorough understanding of Gothic architecture and worship to specific forms of piety amidst the familial and political machinations of city magistrates. She further compares the Book's entries with gifts to other churches, convents, and monasteries within the city. The book goes far beyond statistics to document late medieval religious practices and piety, changes that accompanied war and the onset of the Reformation, and the continuation of Catholic beliefs long after Protestantism had taken its place. The book delivers much more than it promises and makes a major contribution to our understanding of late medieval religion.