What is the author's tone in the biography, All God’s Children?

The tone of All God's Children alternates between the tone of a general, historical narrative and a tone more emotionally involved in the characters of the book. The narrative tone is most prevalent in the beginning of the book, particularly in the first chapter where Butterfield outlines the history of violence in Edgefield County and reviews the nature of the slave trade and the culture of honor prevalent among all races and social classes in Edgefield. But as Butterfield introduces the Bosket family, his tone becomes increasingly personal.