What is the author's tone in the memoir, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East?

The tone of Shadid's memoir is tinged with melancholic nostalgia for a time that is a century gone, a time that he personally never knew; namely, the reign of the Ottoman Empire. He sees it as a time of non-nationalistic, religiously tolerant, and ethnically diverse community in the Middle East, and by rebuilding his great-grandfather's house he seems to be trying to find a bridge back to that more peaceful world. Given the intense political strife of the region and the abundant horrors Shadid has seen as a correspondent in war zones, the tone of his book is generally neutral and gentle. He does not explicitly proselytize for "peace in the Middle East," nor does he harshly point fingers at any one nation in particular in blame for the region's hardships.