What is the author's tone in Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone?

This book is attempting to do more than one thing and, hence, it has more than one tone. A third of the book or so is a rather straightforward biography of John von Neumann. Another third is a history of the cold war and the intellectual establishment that arose during the cold war to deal with the threat posed by nuclear warfare. Another third is devoted to looking at how game theory in general and prisoner's dilemmas in particular can illuminate problems in human society and action.