Patrick Amory (born 1965) is a historian and an executive in the recorded music industry.

Early life

Patrick Amory was born in New York City on July 10, 1965, to literary parents. His father, the late Hugh Amory, was noted as the most "rigorous" and "methodologically sophisticated" historian of the book in early America. He attended the Commonwealth School in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

Academia

Patrick Amory graduated from Commonwealth School in Boston, gained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in history from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he founded the

Record Hospital Record Hospital is the long-running underground music program on radio station WHRB in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1984, Record Hospital is run by the radio station's rock department and currently broadcasts on weeknights after classical mu ...

program on radio station

WHRB WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College. The station is owned by Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., a non-profit corporation independent o ...

. Amory subsequently earned an M. Phil. and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in late antique and early medieval history and published ''People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554'' (Cambridge University Press). Amory's book was considered an "illustration of the recent interest of historians in ethnogenesis" and described as "brilliant and remorseless" by Peter Brown. The book attempted to up-end the theory of the barbarian invasions and the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, via a case-study of individual reactions in the province of Italy, a core region of the Mediterranean culture-province, during a period of intense political change. The main ideas of the book have met with mixed response, with historians such as

Peter Heather Peter John Heather (born 8 June 1960) is a British historian of late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Heather is Chair of the Medieval History Department and Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He specialises in the fall ...

objecting to some of its more radical theses.

Music industry

In the mid-late 80s Amory ran the small independent record label Amory Arms which released a handful of records only including the first Lemonheads 7" 'Laughing All The Way To The Cleaners' in 1989 and Deathwish 'Tailgate' 7" in 1989 (recorded in 1983) which is now a now highly collectable Boston Hardcore record. Amory had been active in independent rock since the 1980s, including stints as Rock Director and Program Director at WHRB-FM (Harvard's radio station). In 1994 he left academia to work as general manager of

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...

, one of the premier independent rock record labels of the 1990s. Amory together with Gerard Cosloy and Chris Lombardi at Matador Records are credited with pursuing the preservation of artistic freedom while preserving a viable business model through "realistic success".(December 27, 2005),
The Net Is a Boon for Indie Labels
'. (New York Times) Amory has lived and worked in New York since 1994.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amory, Patrick 1965 births Living people Harvard College alumni Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Businesspeople from New York City American music industry executives Historians of Italy American medievalists Commonwealth School alumni Historians from New York (state)