New York Man Returns Book 42 Years Overdue

William Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” has sat in the 900 section of New York’s Guilderland Library since it was first published in 1960 – but it isn’t the original copy. That one was checked out in April 1974, and returned Tuesday. “It’s a notable thing. Doesn’t happen very often. I’ve been in libraries for 30 years and this is the most extreme overdue book I’m aware of,” explains Guilderland Library Director Tim Wiles. It’s unclear why, exactly, the patron kept the book for so long. But it seems this chronicle of Nazi Germany now has a history of its own. “He left, he told us he moved to another country and had taken the book with him and moved back but felt it should come back home,” explains Wiles. Late fees for a book thats 15,531 days overdue total $3,106.20.