What is the author's tone in Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman?

Lillian Hellman who wrote "Scoundrel Time" and who lived it writes with the clarity and sophistication of a great writer. When the dark times began, Hellman was a non-political young writer. Current events did not interest her. Though the man she lived with Dashiell Hammett was a registered Communist, they never talked politics. She attended a few meetings with him, but she didn't pay attention to speakers preferring to people watch. Though not political, she greatly admired the seeming passion of the liberals and progressives she associated with. Hellman, however, never takes on a tone of "victim"—she never claims she was an innocent by-stander caught up in an unfair situation. Her description of the beginning of the dark period of distrust is descriptive not self-indulgent.