The Bibliopod: What makes a ’buzz book,’ and a Massey preview

This week on The Bibliopod, Maclean’s podcast about books:

Anne Kingston and Brian Bethune discuss the buzzy books and what undergirds them. In this age of social media, do we still need reviews to lead us the right way? To help us with the conversation, we invited Phyllis Bruce, the editor of a self-titled imprint within Simon and Schuster, to give insider insight on what publishers get out of buzz and how it gets generated.

Also: esteemed historian Margaret MacMillan, who is set to deliver the 2015 Massey Lecture. She talks about whether key-seeming individuals are truly important to the course of history, the philosopher Michel de Montaigne, and her interest in women through history.

You can listen to the podcast on Soundcloud below, or subscribe free on iTunes, Stitcher and Beyondpod! If you like this, check out our other audio offerings, from our columnists reading their work to two other weekly podcasts on politics and culture.