Moscow Spring

Most taxi drivers in Moscow seem to think that glasnost is not worth a damn, and the much-heralded new openness in Soviet society has hardly made a dent on sex-role stereotyping or on Russians' prudish sexual attitudes. These observations, made by the Taubmans during their six-month stay (Jan.-June 1988) in the U.S.S.R., are typical of the candid firsthand reportage in this refreshingly down-to-earth, unpretentious travelogue. Both specialists in Soviet affairs at Amherst College (he in political science, she in Russian literature), this husband-wife team analyze Gorbachev's attempted restructuring of the Soviet Union as ``a contradictory hybrid . . . a democratic revolution from above.'' Despite the fierce conservative opposition Gorbachev faces, the authors see optimistic signs of change in workplace elections, a press that is no longer monolithic and in the stream of formerly suppressed books, films and music being released and discussed. (Mar.)