The Anatomy of Decay is a United Nations memoir that documents in meticulous detail the deleterious metamorphosis of a United Nations institution as observed by one diplomat over a period of nearly four decades. United Nations institutions, like all human created institutions, succumb to changes in the behaviour of the individuals for whom these institutions have been established. The memoir documents these changes for the advisory committee and concludes by providing numerous suggestions to deal with the effect of such changes, suggestions which should be of interest, not only to the present but future officials interested in how to reform  and improve international institutions like the advisory committee.