Named after advice supposedly given to the sharpshooters in Germany's GSG 9 anti-terrorist squad, Shoot the Women First is based on some of the world's most notorious female terrorists (Leila Khaled and Kim Hyon Hui).

It sets out to destroy what the author sees as stereotypical myth and male fantasy surrounding such women, that they are either gun-toting lesbian feminists or misguided pawns.

[1] Eileen MacDonald is a British journalist who was intrigued by the question of whether women terrorists are more ruthless than their male counterparts.

A senior government security official explains, "Women terrorists have much stronger characters, more power, and more energy than men.

"[2] MacDonald interviewed a total of twenty women terrorists from predominantly leftist terrorist groups, including members of Germany's Red Army Faction, Irish Republican Army, Italy's Red Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) replaced the Viet Cong as the heroic model.

Kim was the only woman interviewed who considered herself a terrorist, since she was acting on the orders of North Korea and explains a lifetime of brainwashing.

Women of all ages operated a highly effective intelligence network and their traditional clothing hid a wide variety of weapons.

Leila is credited with being the first woman hijacker and achieved in a few hours what the lives of hundreds of Palestinian fighters failed to do since: "she grabbed the attention of the world's media and held it enthralled.

However, MacDonald argues that the women interviewed in this chapter have been involved in the most bloody stage in their fight against the British Army.

[15] The main question MacDonald attempts to answer in this chapter is why German women in particular are drawn to violence and wonders, "Is it a part of the national psyche?

"[17] MacDonald also connects themes of motherhood and maternal instinct across interviews, citing that many women feel guilty about neglecting their children for their cause.

Overall, he argues that MacDonald succeeds in revealing the motivations, thought processes, mindsets, and historical consciousness of terrorists.

[21] Yet, Hoffman claims that she is less successful in presenting the empirical evidence and systematic analysis needed to prove the book's thesis, "linking gender to a proclivity for greater lethality.

However, the article finds that "MacDonald turns out to be guilty of the same anti-feminist thinking she criticizes: the stereotype that a woman doesn't get angry on behalf of a cause.

"[23] A Chicago Tribune article finds that the book cites little secondary reporting, making it hard to know how reliable or typical the experiences of these women terrorists are.