The unprecedented anthropogenic landscape transformation that has occurred in Central Europe between the Harz Mountains and the Erzgebirge foothills over the last quarter-century, and which continues to unfold before our eyes—from the final days of excessive lignite mining to the emerging lakes of our time, creating a new Central German lake district comparable to the natural lakes of Mecklenburg—this, and nothing less, is the subject of a two-part book project, the first volume of which is now available. The area is defined by cities such as Leipzig, Merseburg, Weissenfels, Zeitz, Altenburg, Grimma, and Wurzen, encompassing all the post-mining lakes, including the large suburban lakes of Leipzig like Kulkwitzer, Cospudener, Markkleeberger, Störmthaler, and Zwenkauer Lake, as well as the Bornaer, Witznitzer, and Bockwitzer Lakes, along with the newly created lakes in the western part of Saxony-Anhalt and the many ponds in southern Altenburg.