Yes, I think that's exactly why it did so well. He appeals to emotions that resonate for many, and since most people don't have the anthropology/sociology/history background to be able to see the glaring errors, they accepted it.

If you have further interest in learning about some of the issues, I recommend reading The Darker Angels of Our Nature, which is a series of 27 or so essays from various subject matter experts about the problems with Pinker's book.

For other books about what pre-history was really like, and how humans were socially organized for most of our history, please read The Dawn of Everything, Hierarchy In the Forest, Nurturing Our Humanity, or War Peace and Human Nature, as well as the essays that I’ve linked at the bottom.