The recent discovery of the Helm Family Journal, coupled with the family's permission to disclose its contents, has resulted in the abridged version of this book, titled Brother Levi. The book is a century-long accurate account of the pioneering Helm family, both in Kentucky and Missouri, highlighting their most infamous family member, one Levi Boone Helm. Levi Boone Helm is more commonly known simply as Boone Helm, the Kentucky Cannibal, a true villain of the nineteenth-century frontier. The book is an unabashed, untamed account of Boone Helm by the two men who knew him best, Joseph Helm III, his eldest brother, with input from his uncle James Helm. The journal paints a stark contrast to the dime-store novels or newspaper articles of the day.

Boone Helm was indeed extraordinary in terms of fearsome brutality and savage cannibalism. Thoroughly skilled in methods of murder, this man's region of rage extended from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada into Mexico and all parts in between. He was not averse to killing strangers, men, women, and children or members of his own family, unlike many villains of the era. Due to the record documented on the pages of the Helm Family Journal, Boone Helm should probably be recognized as the most prolific Serial Killer in American history, bar none! I hope the reader will enjoy the truest telling of Boone Helm's story.