This month's museum pick...

Had the feral ignoramuses who attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 understood the U.S. a bit more, they might have considered attacking this great museum. For it is here that the physical basis of some of this country’s most important memories are lovingly stored – everything from Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis monoplane to the contents of Lincoln’s pockets on the night he was assassinated.

Beware, though: There’s so much here it invites insanity. When dealing with the Smithsonian, it’s best to select a theme and stick to it. Firmly resist the temptation to indulge your wandering eye. Do as Ulysses did and lash yourself to a figurative mast that  forces you to stay focused. 

What else we like about it: I. M. Pei’s gorgeous National Art Gallery – modernism at its best. It’s close to some fine monuments, especially Maya Lin’s sublimely perfect and appropriate Vietnam War memorial (avoid the politically correct FDR monument, which has him sans cigarette and constrained in a wheelchair; it is tacky beyond belief).

— Patrick Totty