Green Goes Forth, the prequel to Robert Gilbert's first novel Mintwood Place, is a coming-of-age story set in the 1970s. It features the young Joe Green, who we already know as a divorced father of three, involved in the political skullduggery of Washington, DC. Now we meet young Joe, a senior at American University, who gets himself in trouble and flees the city two steps ahead of the law. His escape takes him to Sonoma County, California, where he goes into hiding. During his lonesome months of exile, he expands his imagination with the study of such books as Homer's The Odyssey, and the I Ching of Confucius. He also becomes a successful marijuana grower. After two years, he returns to DC with money and a gnostic sense that stands in opposition to the emerging politics of the Reagan era. Green Goes Forth is Robert Gilbert's third novel.