The Six Pack: A Discussion with Brad Balukjian

Join The Book Stall (811 Elm Street in Winnetka) on Wednesday, May 15 at 6:30 pm for an evening of fun and nostalgia with author Brad Balukjian as he discusses his new book, The Six Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Wrestlemania. From the bestselling author of The Wax Pack comes an eye-opening road trip adventure into the iconic pop culture of professional wrestling, starring the Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, and many more larger-than-life characters of the 1980’s WWF. 
 
This event is free with registration. To register, please visit our website or CLICK HERE. 
 
More About the Book: Brad’s story starts back at the first WrestleMania, when he was first pulled into the world of professional wrestling as a child of the ’80s. At six years old, he was fascinated with the stars of the day, including the Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana and, of course, Hulk Hogan. Somewhere between sport and theater, considered by many to be silly and lowbrow, for him it was an outlet that reflected strength and fearlessness.
 
In 2005, Brad Balukjian left his position as a magazine fact-checker to pursue a dream job and partner with his childhood hero, The Iron Sheik, to write his biography. Now seventeen years later, Balukjian returns to the road in search of not only a reunion with the Sheik, but something much bigger: truth in a world built on illusion.

Balukjian seeks out six of the Sheik’s contemporaries, fellow witnesses to the World Wrestling Federation’s (WWF) explosion in the mid-‘80s, to unearth their true identities. As Balukjian drives 12,525 miles around the country, we revisit the heady days when these avatars of strength, villainy, and heroism first found fame and see where their journeys took them. From working out with Tony Atlas to visiting Hulk Hogan’s karaoke bar, we see where these men are now.

The Six Pack combines the spirit of a fan with the rigor of an investigative reporter. Wrestling is perceived as a subculture without a cultural home, what makes this book so compelling is the humanity revealed with each wrestler.
 
More About the Author: Brad Balukjian, Ph.D. has chosen two careers, journalist and scientist, which converge on pursuit of the truth. He has been published in Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and many others. His first book, The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, was on the LA Times bestseller list and was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. He is a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, and he discovered 17 species of insects (green flash bugs) in Tahiti.