Would make good thesis statements

American history is driven by race more than any other single factor.

At the turn of the century, industrialization and commercialism combined to shape a new tradition in American literature: modernism.

Rilke was a writer for whom vision and the visible world were the primary objects of poetic inquiry.

Rilke's Duino Elegies was his most widely-read, but the almost physical weight of the language in The Book of Pictures makes it his masterpiece.
Tail-wagging in dogs is actually a sophisticated method of communicating emotional responses. (apex)