Alexander S. Heard is editorial director of Outside magazine and the author of Apocalypse Pretty Soon, a book about millennial subcultures in the United States. His book, "The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South", about the 1951 execution of Willie McGee, was published in 2010. Prior to his work with Outside, he was the executive editor for Wired magazine. He has also edited and written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Slate. He is not related to G. Alexander Heard, who was chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Heard is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and attended during Chancellor Heard's tenure.