The good thing about history.js is that it plugs in to several common libraries, but also has a native adapter.
Another workaround, if you're receiving a full page instead of a segment, is to pull out the html from the main content div, along the lines of:
if ( data.match(/^i) )
data = $('div#content',data).html();
Not sure if it applies for your situation, but still a useful thing to keep in mind.