I don't know that the historical facts would serve to remind readers of the vast historical continuity of romance so much as to inform the reader of peculiar historical facts: like, "Hey, let's talk about the Confederate raid in Indiana during the Civil War!"
(According to a plaque - I may be misremembering some of the details; it's been a while since I visited the site - one of the raiders attempted to steal a pig from a farm. The young lady of the farm told him to leave the pig alone, and the raider told her that after the way, he would come back and marry her. And then apparently he did.)
I think Vowell's openings are often rather rough: it's like she's trying so hard to establish that she's funny that it rather drowns out the actual history. She usually settles down to dig more deeply into her subject later on in the story, with far fewer asides, although the pop culture references never quite go away.
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Date: 2015-11-05 02:05 am (UTC)(According to a plaque - I may be misremembering some of the details; it's been a while since I visited the site - one of the raiders attempted to steal a pig from a farm. The young lady of the farm told him to leave the pig alone, and the raider told her that after the way, he would come back and marry her. And then apparently he did.)
I think Vowell's openings are often rather rough: it's like she's trying so hard to establish that she's funny that it rather drowns out the actual history. She usually settles down to dig more deeply into her subject later on in the story, with far fewer asides, although the pop culture references never quite go away.