In what time period does A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, take place?

The novel is
set in and reflects the mores and
technology of a small town in New England in the early 1960s,
the time when
the book was written. There are no personal computers, no microwaves, and no
cell
phones. A radio issues hurricane warnings. We learn that Meg and her
mother struggle with Meg's
hair, having trouble "putting it up," which would
mean using pin curls or curlers,
something we seldom, if ever, do
today.

When the children arrive at Camazotz,
the
neighborhood is described as a typical 1950s housing development and acts as a
commentary on
the "conformity" people worried about in that period, when
modern identical
subdivisions of the Levittown variety had only been built
for about fifteen years. We learn
that:

The houses in the outskirts were all exactly alike,
small square
boxes painted gray. Each had a small, rectangular plot of lawn in front, with
a
straight line of dull-looking flowers edging the path to the
door.

The children on Camazotz deliver
newspapers on bicycles, bounce balls, and skip ropes,
all activities we
associate with bygone eras. 

The book thus is both science

, complete with interstellar travel and alien beings, and a period piece reflecting
white
middle-class life in an era roughly 55 years
past.